Life in the Presence

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Life in thePresenceComprisingBook 1: Pursuing the PresenceRichard Spencer and Laura Barratt

Book 2: Living in the PresenceRichard SpencerCover design by James Wade

we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mysterybut I am talking about Christ andthe church.

Ephesians 5:30-32


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2009, 2010 Richard Spencer and Laura Barratt

Holy Trinity Church, Belle Vue Road, Shrewsbury, SY3 7LL, UK

Tel: 01743 244891, email: [email protected]

Version 1, 8456-01


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ContentsBook 1: Pursuing the PresenceChapters 1-13Book 2: Living in the PresenceChapters 14-24

1 Introduction ____________________________________ 6

2 Peters Confession vs. Peters Rebuke _______________ 9

3 The Authentic Presence of God ___________________ 14

4 The Golden Calf vs. the Day of Pentecost ___________ 19

5 The Sell-out of the Church _______________________ 28

6 Representational Worship ________________________ 36

7 The Bride of Christ _____________________________ 41

8 Experiencing the Presence of God _________________ 48

9 Saul vs. David Worshipping in Spirit and Truth_____ 54

10 Entering the Presence of God ___________________ 60

11 The Muller Principle __________________________ 71

12 Baptism and Communion ______________________ 76

13 Conclusions _________________________________ 82

14 Introduction _________________________________ 86


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15 The Two Lives _______________________________ 88

16 The Presence of God __________________________ 94

17 The Church in the 21st

Century_________________ 104

18 Entering the Presence ________________________ 110

19 Continuous Revelation Fresh Bread ___________ 122

20 New Wine calls for New Wineskins Transformation

130

21 Water, Bread and Wine _______________________ 145

22 The Two Trees ______________________________ 156

23 Conclusions ________________________________ 161

24 The Way Forward ___________________________ 165


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Book 1


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1 Introductionhere is a passionate intimate Father, looking for passionateintimate children .There is a passionate intimate bridegroom

looking for a passionate intimate bride. There is a wonderful lifegiving Spirit looking to break free in His people. The questions ishave you encountered these three in this way? Have youencountered God the Father, Jesus the passionate bridegroom, orthe freeing Holy Spirit?

Many of us have only learnt about it, read about it in scripture, ormaybe just had a one off encounter years ago. Weve accepted Jesusinto our lives and we know were going to heaven so were just

waiting until Jesus returns and then we know we can be truly happyliving in the presence of God forever and having a wonderful lifebut until then we have to try our best to be good, reading our Bibleseveryday, praying everyday, confessing everyday, and trying our bestto do what we think would please God or what we may think Godwants us to do. Were just going through the motions. Is this what Jesus meant when he said have come that they may have life,and have it to the full.1? Jesus is talking about a life that many of

us do not know. It is a life of intimacy, of friendship, of love, ofpeace, of joy, of passion, of wholeness. It is a life of fullness.

1 John 10:10

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Where can this be found? Only one place In your presencethere is fullness of joy2. It can only be found in the presence. Inthe presence of your father, in the presence of your lover thebridegroom and in the presence of the sweet Holy Spirit. God longsfor us to talk and relate to him as a best friend, as a father, as alover. All these things speak of intimacy. God wants you to knowhim in an intimate way, to encounter him. He wants to talk to youdirectly, he wants to touch you, he wants you to know his presence. He

wants to be so real to you. Not just for a few moments not everyfew years, but every minute of every day. He wants you to live andminister from a place of presence. His presence.

God is in the business of romancing and pursuing you. Of takingyou into a deeper place of intimacy with him. For some of us wevenever been there, but God wants to go deeper with you today. For

others we may have started on this journey of going deeper intoGod, and yet there is so much more! Life and our times togethercorporately are so much more exciting, life changing andtransforming when we allow God to show up and invade us. God isnot looking for a people who will hold him at arms length or notallow him to do things his way. He wants you to invite him to wantmore of him. He wants you to know his presence is all that youneed. I believe God wants to move in his people he wants to move

in his church. He wants to move comfortably and easily without usputting any restraint on him. He wants us to make room for him inour lives and in our times together corporately where he can come

2 Psalm 16:11 (NRSV)


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and put his feet up and not be told when to leave or how long hesgot before we have to move on to the next thing!

Church services will not give you what you are truly looking for,because what we are all truly looking for is relationship. An intimaterelationship. Are you satisfied with what you know of God? Areyou happy to keep going through the same old pattern of service

every Sunday? If you are then thats OK, and God will still blessyou because he loves you. But I urge you to look past what youcurrently know and what youve always done and pursue thepresence. Chase after God and know that there is more for you. This book explores what it means to know the presence of Godand live in it.

Discussion PointsAt the end of each chapter there are a number of discussion pointswhich can be used to get the conversation going when this book isbeing used by a group. The members of the group should read achapter before each meeting and ask God to speak thougheverything they read. It is important to approach this material withan open heart and an open mind, no matter if it seems quite radical.


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2 Peters Confession vs.Peters Rebukeeachers often use contrasts between opposites as a way ofbringing out essential truths. There is an extreme Biblical

contrast in the space of a few verses in Matthew 16. The contrast isin Jesus reaction to two statements from Peter.

Matthew 16:13-23 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea

Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man

is? They replied, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah;

and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about

you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered,

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus replied,Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to

you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you

are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of

Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom

of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,

and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he

warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he

must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the

elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be

killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside

and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord! he said. This shall never

happen to you! Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me,

Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind

the things of God, but the things of men.

After Peters confession of who Jesus is, Peter is raised up to be the

foundation stone of the church, given keys and authority. No-one

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else in the Gospels is honoured in this way. All this comes fromjust a few words from Peters lips. Yet, just a few minutes later,Peter makes one more statement and receives Jesus worst everrebuke. There really is not a greater contrast in the whole of theBible. It is clear that the Holy Spirit wants us to learn somethingvital from this passage.

The contrast here is not simply between good and bad, right and wrong, but between the things of God and the things of men.From what Jesus says to Peter, doing things mans way is not justsecond-best or a pale reflection of what God can achieve, it isultimately the work of the evil one. Peters confession of Christ is adirect revelation from the Father, Peter steps out in faith, speakswhat he has heard, and brings glory to Jesus. His concern for Jesuswell-being is the total opposite, no matter how much it accords with

our natural human instincts. We need to learn from this that sayingor doing what we think is good can be so far away from Gods willthat it takes us into the devils camp. Waiting for direct revelationand acting on it is the only way we can be part of what God isdoing, anythingelse may be working against him.

Hiding from the Presence

The original state of humankind was to know the presence of Godin a very tangible way, with nothing between them and him. Theyhad perfect communion with him and continually received hisblessing. The contrast between before and after the Fall is striking.After clothing (veiling) themselves, the first act of Adam and Eveafter they disobeyed God was to hide from his presence:


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Genesis 3:8 [RSV] And they heard the sound of the LORDGod walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and theman and his wife hid themselves from the presence ofthe LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Sin brings shame, and with it the urge to get away from the holy.But it is a central principle of the Christian faith that this is notnecessary now; it is through Jesus sacrifice that we have access to

God.

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we haveconfidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood ofJesus,

This is truly heaven on earth, because we can come into the directpresence of God:

2 Corinthians 3:18 [RSV] And we all, with unveiled face,beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed intohis likeness from one degree of glory to another; for thiscomes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

It is in the presence that we are changed; we are made more andmore like Jesus, so that we may be able to receive and to respond tothe love of the Father. God gives us so much more than Adam andEve ever had, because in Jesus we have access to the tree of life, alife lived for ever in the presence of God.


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Discussion Points1. Skim through the Gospels to find places where Jesus praises

people and where he rebukes them. See if you can find if he

ever approves of anyone more than Peter in Matthew 16:17-19; and see if you can find a more severe reprimand thanMatthew 16:23.

2. See if you can find some more contrasts in the Bible betweenevents for example, the conception of Ishmael3 and Isaac4,

and the battles for Jericho5 and Ai6. In each case you will seeit is not a matter of good or evil, but whether people trust therevelation they have received and obey God or not.

3. Adam and Eve took the fruit from the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil. They wanted to make moral decisions forthemselves. Do you think that the law given to Moses at Mt.

Sinai is God giving the people what they wanted? Is the rest ofthe Old Testament a record of the consequences?

4. The cross is referred to as a tree in the Bible7. Discusswhether we can think of it as the Tree of Life8. Is Jesus the

3 Genesis 16

4 Genesis 17

5 Joshua 6

6 Joshua 7

7 Galatians 3:13

8 Genesis 2:9; Genesis 3:22-24; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 22:2,14,19


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fruit hanging on the tree? Does this give a new meaning tocommunion?

5. Read 2 Corinthians 3:18 in as many translations as possible.What does this amazing verse mean for us?


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3 The Authentic Presence ofGodave you ever read great classics of Christian literature andasked yourself why is my experience of God so pale in

comparison? For example, A.W. Tozer writes:

The Presence and the manifestation of the Presence are not the same.There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are whollyunaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of HisPresence. On our part there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for

His work it is to show us the Father and the Son. If we co-operatewith Him in loving obedience God will manifest Himself to us, andthat manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christianlife and a life radiant with the light of His face.9

How do we deal with statements like that? Do we assume that themanifestation of Gods Presence is only for great saints like A.W.Tozer or do we think that he is writing about what is theoreticallypossible but that is never actually realised?

9 A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, (Camp Hill, PA, USA, Zur Ltd., 1982), Chapter 5

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My great-grandmother, Susanna Spencer, had such an amazingChristian life that her autobiography was published as a testimonydespite the fact that she was an ordinary working woman, the wifeof a blacksmith. Her extraordinary life of service seems to haveflowed from an experience of the presence of God while she wasstill living with her parents:

One terrible day, the burden seemed to become too great for me - I couldbear it no longer: I came in from my work, and with heavy steps wentstraight up to my bedroom, threw myself on my knees by my bedside,and sobbed out the whole wretched tale to Jesus. I told Him how I hadtried and tried to be good, and to get peace - and begged Him to takeme as I was, and just let me be His child henceforth - I was so tired ofmyself. Perhaps the surrender was so complete, the trusting Him so

real - for, there and then, as I knelt, light came, and a calm peaceentered into my very being. He revealed Himself, and I knew Him!10

How do we explain the fact that some Christians produce acropthirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown11 while most of us are almost fruitless in many aspects of ourChristian lives? We are all gifted by God in different ways, and wemust never feel condemned or even challenged by the ministries of

10 Susanna Spencer,My Life, (London, 1917), page 7

11 Mark 4:20


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others, yet we know God has no favourites12

, and all his childrenshould expect to receive everything he has for us, and to know himworking in us and through us.

There are many Christian books that will advise you on what youmust do to enter into a deeper experience of the presence of Godand become more fruitful, but it is the premise of this book is that

it is doing that is blocking Gods work in our lives. Some yearsago, God said to me very clearly, in a time of worship, that we needmanifestation, not representation. The church (alldenominations) is guilty of coming up with ways of representing thepresence of God with his people, which effectively say to God, wedont need you. Unless, we are willing to trust God to turn up when we meet (or do anything else) in his name, then we mustexpect a watered-down experience of him.

Manifestation, not Representation

It almost seems at times that the different branches of the Christianchurch differ mainly in the way they choose to represent Godspresence with his people. In their times of corporate worship, theymay express Gods beauty and unchanging nature with liturgy that

has been used for hundreds of years, they may convey Godsjoyfulness and power in lively songs or they may express Gods wisdom in a carefully crafted sermon; but in each case it is their

12 Romans 2:11


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planning and expertise that has determined what happens whenthey meet together. God is gracious and will still meet us in thesehuman-designed activities, but how much more he gives us if we arewilling to allow the Holy Spirit to be our worship leader.

Worship is meant to be vertical, directed to God and (under theNew Covenant) directed by him. Far too much time and effort is

directed into pleasing each other. There is no doubt that we canenjoy a well-crafted act of worship, we can leave it with our spiritslifted; but that is equally true of a concert, a play, a lecture, visit toan art gallery or a good meal. Attending worship should affect usemotionally, but feeling good (or anything else) should be as a resultof having quite literally met with the living God. The only parallelto the experience of corporate worship should be what happenswhen we meet with another human being we love and respect.

The Presence of God under the New Covenant

Under the Old Covenant, God manifested his presence in a numberof ways, e.g. three men, an angel, a burning bush, a pillar of fire.For 33 years Gods presence was uniquely manifest on planet earthas one human being: Jesus Christ. The New Covenant was initiated

on the Day of Pentecost when God became manifest in andthrough his people. This was accomplished by Jesus taking upresidence in each individual who is willing to receive him, living inthem and changing them into his likeness by the power of the HolySpirit. Weare the only representation that God needs on earth. AsJesus lives in us, as we are transformed to be like him, as the churchbecomes truly the bride and the body of Christ, we can re-presentGod on earth.


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Discussion Points1. Describe to the group ways that you have experienced the

manifest presence of God. These may be dramatic or like thestill, small voice that Elijah heard13.

2. Find alternative ways of saying manifestation, notrepresentation.

3. Discuss other ways that churches represent the presence ofGod.

4. Books like The Shack14 use fictional characters to representthe presence and nature of God. Is this of any value, and canit ever be successful in truly portraying Gods nature?

5. What do you feel in a typical act of worship? What is

triggering your emotions? What other events in your lifemake you feel the same (or a similar) way?

13 1 Kings 19:12

14 Wlliam Paul Young, The Shack, (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2008)


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4 The Golden Calf vs. theDay of Pentecosthere are a number of Bible passages that speak of how Godspeople can experience his presence, and how they can get in

his way as he seeks to manifest himself to them and to the world.Helpfully, the Holy Spirit has inspired the writers of the Bible togive us a number of linked but contrasting passages, so that we cansee the profound difference that worshipping God can make if weare willing to totally abandon our representations of his presence.

When we consider the incident of the Golden Calf at Sinai, at firstsight, it seems as if the Israelites have turned aside to worship afalse god when they bowed down, but it is clear that this is not whatAaron had in mind:

Exodus 32:4-5 Aaron took what they handed him and made

it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, These are your gods, OIsrael, who brought you up out of Egypt. When Aaronsaw this, he built an altar in front of the calf andannounced, Tomorrow there will be a festival to theLORD.

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Aaron made a concrete representation of the Lords presence andinvited the people to worship him through it in a pre-plannedfestival. This provoked Gods anger to the extent that Moses hadto plead with God. He relented from abandoning them but stillabout 3000 were killed that day15. This figure has a curious parallelon the Day of Pentecost when about 3000 were baptised and addedto the church16.

The Jews of Jesus time (as in the centuries before and to thepresent day) celebrated three main festivals: Passover, Pentecostand Tabernacles. Passover is a thanksgiving for freedom fromslavery in Egypt, at Pentecost the events at Sinai are rememberedand Tabernacles recalls the time in the Wilderness (Pentecost andTabernacles are also harvest festivals). Here is another link betweenthe incident with the Golden Calf and the day when the church was

born at Pentecost.

The connection between the Golden Calf event and the Day ofPentecost recorded in Acts 2 is even more striking when weconsider that in both cases the leader of the people had gone up tomeet with God, and a cloud had hidden him:

Exodus 19:20 The LORD descended to the top of Mount

15 Exodus 32:28

16 Acts 2:41


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Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. SoMoses went up

Exodus 20:21 The people remained at a distance, whileMoses approached the thick darkness where God was.

John 20:17 Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, Do not holdon to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go

instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning tomy Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

Acts 1:9 After he said this,Jesus was taken up before theirvery eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit wants us to contrast thesetwo events, so as to learn how to encourage new life rather than

death. Probably the key common factor in these two events isworship. After making the Golden Calf, Aaron:

Exodus 32:5-6 built an altar in front of the calf andannounced, Tomorrow there will be a festival to theLORD. So the next day the people rose early andsacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowshipofferings. Afterwards they sat down to eat and drink andgot up to indulge in revelry.

This was pre-planned worship, according to a familiar pattern; it canbest be described as religious. The second-in-command (Aaron)decided when and how it should happen, and his decisions wereguided solely by a desire to please the people. He implicitlyencouraged the people to think about themselves, as shown by their

actions at the end of the service.


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The worship on the Day of Pentecost was different. As the visitorsto Jerusalem said,

Acts 2:11 we hear them[the disciples]declaring thewonders of God in our own tongues!

The disciples praised God spontaneously, not according to anyformula they had learnt. The worship affected those around them,not because someone had designed it to do this, but because theHoly Spirit was working supernaturally through it. The role of thesecond-in-command (Peter) was not to control or direct theworship, but to speak prophetically in the environment created bythe worship, i.e. Word and Spirit working together. The visitors toJerusalem thought that the disciples were drunk on new wine, butthey were high on another Spirit, which is another interestingcontrast with the worship of God through the Golden Calf. Paultells us:

Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads todebauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

Aarons words all through the events are clearly motivated by fearof the people and of losing his position of authority. He evenblatantly lies to Moses:

Exodus 32:24 So I told them, Whoever has any goldjewellery, take it off. Then they gave me the gold, and Ithrew it into the fire, and out came this calf!


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In contrast, Peter was able to speak prophetically with great courageto all the people. He was bold enough to tell them that they wereresponsible for killing the Messiah:

Acts 2:23 you, with the help of wicked men, put himto death by nailing him to the cross.

Peter spoke out the truth, and was given insight into what wasgoing on; he saw in the supernatural that this is that which wasprophesied by Joel. He was able to tell the people with realauthority what they needed to do, and he was able to promise themthe gift of the Holy Spirit, God himself, living in them. In contrastAaron did not have a clue in guiding the people of Israel towardsGods will he neither heard God, nor seemed to care what Godmight want for his people. Aaron could only take rather than give

he took their ear-rings, which eventually ended up as humanexcrement17, a rather ignoble fate!

There is a real impatience in the people of Israel which seems to bethe initial problem:

Exodus 32:1 When the people saw that Moses was so long

in coming down from the mountain, they gatheredround Aaron and said, Come, make us gods who will

17 See Exodus 32:19


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go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us upout of Egypt, we dont know what has happened tohim.

The disciples had been told by Jesus to be patient and to beprepared to wait:

Acts 1:4-5 On one occasion, while he was eating withthem, he gave them this command: Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For Johnbaptised with water, but in a few days you will bebaptised with the Holy Spirit.

They had to wait ten days, but they did not waste their time. In

addition to finding a successor for Judas:

Acts 1:14 They all joined together constantly in prayer,along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus,and with his brothers.

So what does this mean for us? From the comparison of 3000

deaths to 3000 people being born again we can tell that the GoldenCalf incident is totally negative. Its clear that worshipping arepresentation of Gods presence is no better than worshipping afalse God. This seems to be reflected in the SecondCommandment:

Exodus 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol inthe form of anything in heaven above or on the earth


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beneath or in the waters below

If we construct and worship an idol we are breaking thiscommandment, even if the idol is intended to represent the trueGod, or his servants, or his creation. God wants to relate directly tothose who love him, anything we put in the way (no matter howwell-intentioned) is an abomination to him.

It is clear that this is not a matter of balance; we cannot have a bitof Golden Calf and a bit of Pentecost. God is leading us totally inone direction. He is looking for worship that:

Is completely vertical, focussing on him and ignoring theneeds and desires of the worshippers.

Involves no human-created representations of his presence.

Is lead by the Holy Spirit and therefore is unpredictable18and spontaneous, rather than pre-planned and programmed.

Is completely truthful and authentic, and therefore has animpact on those outside the community of faith.

Is willing to wait on him.

Will spill out into the world.

18 Jesus said to Nicodemus (a teacher of Israel), The wind blows wherever it pleases.You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So

it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)


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This is what Jesus was saying when he spoke to the woman at thewell:

John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father inspirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers theFather seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must

worship in spirit and in truth.

Those of us with the responsibility of leading worship need toemulate Peter rather than Aaron. We need to allow the Holy Spiritto be the true worship leader, we need to trust him to inspire theworshippers and to guide them corporately and individually to offerthemselves as living sacrifices19. Our job is to call the peopletogether, to provide the environment for worship and to guard the

presence of God. We also need to be ready to oversee the deliveryof Gods word to the assembly, whether it comes through us oranother member of the body of Christ.

19 Romans 12:1


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To summarise: Worship, pre-planned to please the people, using arepresentation of Gods presence brings condemnation anddeath. Spontaneous, Holy-Spirit led worship (focussed onlyon God) brings signs, wonders, revelations and new life inabundance.

Discussion Points1. Read some or all of Exodus 32 and Acts 2. Try to get apicture in your mind of the two events.

2. Can you find any more parallels in the two passages besidethose mentioned above?

3. Can you find any more contrasts between the two passages

beside those mentioned above?4. If someone said the connections between the two passages isjust coincidence, what would you reply?

5. Is there anything good to say about the Golden Calf incident(other than they were not worshipping a false God)?

6. What can we learn from the comparison of the fear of Aaronwith the courage of Peter?


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5 The Sell-out of the ChurchSubstitutes for Gods Presence

rom the Bible passages we are considering, it is clear that

different ways of representing the presence of God are notjust a poor second-best to authentic manifestations. Putting intoaction human-designed methods for representing God's presence isthe reason why so many Christians are starved of experiencing Goddirectly. God says if you want to make a substitute for me, and useit to simulate a relationship with me, then OK, but don't expect meto turn up.

It seems almost that the different branches of the Christian churchdiffer mainly in the way they choose to represent God's presence.Some representations are more obvious than others; we will look atsome examples of current church practice.

The Orthodox Church asks the faithful to pray to God throughicons, beautiful paintings of Christ or the saints. They say that they

are not worshipping the icons, but when they venerate an image this veneration is actually of the person depicted. Orthodox believershave been accused of idolatry, but their worship is more like the worship of the Golden Calf at Sinai, which, as we have seeninvolved the worship of a representation of Gods presence, whichinvoked Gods wrath.

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The Catholic Church focuses its worship on the Mass, the timewhen the priest says the prayer of consecration and, according tothe doctrine of transubstantiation, when the bread and winebecome the body and blood of Christ. Catholics are taught tovenerate the 'host' (the bread that has been consecrated) and to seeitas the actual presence of Jesus with them. Jesus told us to sharebread and wine in remembrance of him, but this action should betaking us closer to him rather than to a representation of his

presence with his people (see Chapter 12 ). The Catholic use ofrelics (bits of the bodies of dead saints, pieces of the true cross,etc.) hardly needs commenting on.

Evangelicals tend to put the preaching of the word at the heart oftheir acts of worship. Although this is a less obvious representationof God's presence, it can be one. The preacher may have spent

many days working out how to draw out from a passage ofScripture a particular doctrine. He or she will deliver it with the aimof persuading the people towards a desired response. It is alwayshoped that the Holy Spirit oversees this process, but the sermon(no matter how doctrinally correct) can easily be a human-designedsubstitute for hearing God directly.

Charismatic worship often does not seem complete without a timeof ministry, i.e. praying for individuals who have been prompted(hopefully by the Holy Spirit) to ask for this. This, of course, canbe completely genuine, and God sometimes does move powerfully,but 'times of ministry' can be times when we are doing what hasbeen done many times before, and is a way that the leadership ofthe service can give the people what they want.


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Many people see social action as their worship, loving God byloving my neighbour, but unless our service of others is motivated,inspired, guided and empowered by our love for God, then we havegot the two greatest commandments round the wrong way20.Engaging in good works may be loving our neighbour as ourselvesand thus fulfilling Jesus command, but this is not worshippingGod. The parable of the sheep and the goats21 can be quoted tosupport the idea of social action as worship, but it is important to

note that the sheep do not know they are serving the King whenthey serve one of the least of his brothers. True worship must beintentional if we intend to worship God by helping anotherperson then we are worshipping a substitute. We will look later atthe example of George Muller22 to see how much more successfulwe can be in our ministry to the world if we are willing to put Godsglory first.

It is not only church traditions that are substitutes andrepresentations of the presence of God. The desire to be relevantto the prevailing culture can tempt church leaders to adopt what canbest be called a marketing approach to worship. In the commercial world, the developers of products will modify what they areoffering in the marketplace according to the perceived needs anddesires of their customers. If (as is often the case) the supplier is

20 Matthew 22:37-39

21 Matthew 25:31-46

22 See Chapter 11


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unable to provide exactly what the customer wants at a price thatthe customer is prepared to pay, the supplier will design thepresentation of their product (e.g.. the advertising and the publicrelations material) to change their customers perception of theproduct, or so that they feel good about it. Marketing can also beused to influence the customers own perception of their needs tobe more in line with what is on offer. The world is now one hugemarketplace, dominated by advertising, and there is no doubt that it

works; but can we use its methods (and its morality) as we seek tosell the gospel? What we are selling will inevitably be arepresentation, because to sell something we have to be in controlof it. The temptation to alter the product to make it closer to whatthe customer thinks he or she needs is overwhelming.

A common form of marketing is often used when a church decides

to target a particular niche market, for example families with youngchildren, students, the recently retired, etc.. Churches can attractlarge numbers when they tailor what is on offer to a chosen groupof people. We can use the styles and the language of the culturearound us as we express our worship to God, but we must do thisjust to please him and not each other.

Debates between churches often centre on which practice is closestto the Biblical record or a tradition or an aspect of contemporaryculture or some other criteria. But the real issue is not which kindof representation to use, but why use one at all, when it soobviously not God's will?

The use of substitutes for God's presence has a very long history inchurch life. They are motivated by the desire of church leaders to

stay in control of their flocks, to increase their numbers, and by a


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lack of faith. If we don't trust God to turn up when we meet in hisname then it is very tempting to invent something and say to thepeople 'these are your gods'23. It gives church leaders immensepower over their people if they can persuade them that thesomething they have created is a (or the only) way to meet withGod. The people may consciously or unconsciously collude withthis deception, because it gives them a sense of security; they knowthat the something is clearly under human control. The alternative

may seem too risky; as the writer to the Hebrews put it:

Hebrews 10:31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands ofthe living God.

But relating directly to God is an essential part of the NewCovenant:

Jeremiah 31:3134 The time is coming, declares theLORD, when I will make a new covenant with the houseof Israel and with the house of Judah No longer willa man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying,Know the LORD, because they will all know me, fromthe least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD.

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remembertheir sins no more.

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We are to know God, not just know about him, and not know himthrough some man-made device. Each time a church leaderencourages a church to chicken-out of a direct encounter withGod, then they miss Gods best for them, and also encounter hiswrath.

In the Old Covenant, God gave the people very specificinstructions as to how they were to worship him; much of theMosaic Law details the construction of the Tabernacle and theregulations for worship. In the New Covenant, we are led not by awritten code, but by the Holy Spirit:

2 Corinthians 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of

a new covenant not of the letter but of the Spirit; forthe letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

If we are to be New Covenant Christians, above all, our worshipmust be led by the Holy Spirit. We do not need anything writtendown, carefully prepared according to a formula or judged by anyhuman criteria. We just need to be open to the prompting of theSpirit, ready to develop the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentlenessand self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The second sentence can be translated as According to suchthings there is no law. there is no fixed method or style of

worship pre-ordained under the New Covenant and as soon as we


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try to impose one we slip back into the Old Covenant. The HolySpirit longs to work in us and through us to bring out the fruit aswe praise God from our hearts. As Jesus said to Nicodemus:

John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hearits sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the

Spirit.

If we dont manifest the Holy Spirit by being (humanly-speaking)unpredictable, than we must doubt our commitment to living ourlives Jesus way.

Discussion Points1. Can you think of other representations of Gods presencethat are used in corporate or individual worship?

2. Sometimes we just dont feel like worshipping God when wecome to church. What should we do about this:

Just carry on doing what we have always done in the hopethat God will appreciate our faithfulness?

Open ourselves up to God and wait until we sense his

presence?

Any other suggestions?

3. What are the dangers in relying on the Holy Spirit to lead ourworship? Are there any safeguards we need to put in place?

4. Skim through some of the regulations for worship under theOld Covenant (for example in Exodus 25-30 and Leviticus 1-9).There is only verse in the New Testament that does the same job: 1


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Corinthians 14:26. Does this contrast tell us anything about how weshould worship now?


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6 Representational Worshiphe events at Sinai are key for us considering the manifestpresence of God. As well as being a (perhaps the) significant

time in the history of the nation of Israel, God was more tangiblypresent with them at this time than at any other point in theirhistory.

For the Israelites at Sinai, Gods manifest presence with them wasthe key factor in all that happened. His presence supplied themotivation, the guidance, the provision, the protection, everythingthey needed. Yet despite this, they still doubted; God directedMoses to release water from the rock in his presence.

Exodus 17:6-7 I will stand there before you by the rock atHoreb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it forthe people to drink. So Moses did this in the sight ofthe elders of Israel. And Moses called the place Massahand Meribah because the Israelites quarrelled andbecause they tested the LORD saying, Is the LORD

among us or not?

God is willing to prove that he is with his people by supernaturalsigns, although he must be in charge of the how and when. Mosesand Aaron attempted to take Gods place in the sight of the peopleyears later in again bringing water from a rock. They were barredfrom entering the Promised Land:

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Numbers 20:10..12 Moses and Aaron gathered the assemblytogether in front of the rock and Moses said to them,Listen, you rebels, must webring you water out of thisrock? But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,Because you did not trust in me enough to honour meas holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bringthis community into the land I give them.

It is vital that we honour Gods manifest presence, and not try totake any of his glory.

The motivation of church leaders in putting up withrepresentational worship (to coin a phrase) is as follows:

A desire to please the people.

A lack of trust in God that he will minister directly to hispeople each time they meet in his name.

A lack of courage in not allowing God to manifest himselfin them and in the people.

An ego that needs to be in control, and to be the essentialpiece in the picture of the peoples relationship with God.

Following the pattern of the world in copying best

practice, i.e. what seems to be working in other churches.

At the heart of these symptoms is a self-focus which misses somuch of what God has for us. As A.W. Tozer puts it:

To be specific, the self-sins are these: self-righteousness, self-pity, self-

confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of others


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like them. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part ofour natures to come to our attention till the light of God is focusedupon them. The grosser manifestations of these sins, egotism,exhibitionism, self-promotion, are strangely tolerated in Christianleaders even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy. They are so much inevidence as actually, for many people, to become identified with the gospel. I trust it is not a cynical observation to say that they appearthese days to be a requisite for popularity in some sections of the

Church visible. Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ iscurrently so common as to excite little notice.24

Self-promotion is such a snare that churches and their leadersshould avoid it like the plague. With so many voices clamouring forattention in the modern world, it may seem only expedient that thechurch should publicise its activities whenever it can. Wesometimes think that the way to bring people to Christ is first to get

them to like us, and then they will be attracted to Jesus. This kindof associative thinking may work in the world of promotion andmarketing, but its underlying dishonesty means that we must notuse it for the gospel. The logic that says that people need to like usbefore they will listen to us misses out on the power of the HolySpirit to convict the sinner. Each time we use our own methods todraw the unredeemed to Jesus, we get in the Holy Spirits way. Itsalmost like we block peoples view of Jesus, as he said himself:



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John 12:32 I, when I am lifted up from the earth, willdraw all men to myself.

He was speaking of his death on the cross, but we can lift him up inour praises, and this is sufficient for him to reach out and to bringpeople to himself.

A.W. Tozer wrote about the state of the church in his day (andnothing has changed):

The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and theChurch is famishing for want of His Presence. The instant cure of mostof our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritualexperience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God

is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause ourhearts to be enlarged. This would burn away the impurities from ourlives as the bugs and fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt inthe bush.25Discussion Points

1. Read Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-13. List out the

parallels and contrasts in these two passages.



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2. Why was God so angry with Moses and Aaron (read hiswords to them carefully)?

3. Imagine you are a church leader. What would your way be inseeking to lead the people closer to God?

4. Can you find any place in the Gospels where Jesus promotes

himself? Can you find any place where he seeks to make a goodimpression with anyone? Does this tell us anything?

5. As a church, can we rely on God to bring people to join us ifwe give up on any thought of self-promotion?

6. Read the following quotation, written by the first Bishop ofLiverpool in 1867. How relevant are his words today?

There is a natural proneness and tendency in us all to give God asensual, carnal worship, and not that which is commanded in HisWord. We are ever ready to frame for our sloth and unbelief, visiblehelps and stepping-stones in our approaches to Him, and ultimately to give these inventions of our own the honour due to Him. In fact,idolatry is all natural, down-hill, easy, like the broad way. Spiritualworship is all of grace, all up-hill, and all against the grain. Anyworship whatsoever is more pleasing to the natural heart, thanworshipping God, in the way our Lord Jesus Christ describes, `inspirit and in truth' (John 4:23).26

26 J.C. Ryle, Prophecy, originally published as Coming Events and Present Duties, 1867, (Fearn,

Christian Focus Publications, 1991), Chapter 4


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7 The Bride of ChristIsaiah 62:1-5

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet,till her righteousness shines out like the dawn,her salvation like a blazing torch.

The nations will see your righteousness,and all kings your glory;you will be called by a new name

that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.You will be

a crown of splendour in the LORD's hand,a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

No longer will they call you Deserted,or name your land Desolate.But you will be called Hephzibah,

and your land Beulah

for the LORD will take delight in you,and your land will be married.

As a young man marries a maiden,so will your builder marry you;

as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,so will your God rejoice over you.

his is what God is saying to you, this is what God thinks ofyou. He sees you as crown of splendour right in the palm of

his hand, he delights in you, he rejoices over you, he sees you as hisbride. That is how amazingly, crazily in love God is with you that he wants to be married to you. This is mind-blowing - that God

almighty wants to be married to me and you! You are his bride.

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God uses this picture of a bride so we can know how much heloves us, how crazy he is about us. It is an intimate picture. Its thegreatest love story there ever was and thats ever going to be. Thisis a love story between you and Jesus. Between Jesus and hischurch.

What God is saying to us in these days is that it is vital that we take

hold of his love for us. That we experience it and encounter himbecause it is Gods love that will change us and those we meet, andit is Gods love that will change the nation. God wants us hischurch to know how vast, how wide and how deep his love for usis. The Bible is not enough. Its not enough to read about it andbelieve it, God wants you to know his love! To feel it, to encounterit. He longs to embrace you. We can not understand what it meansto be the bride of Christ until we experience Gods love. Any

marriage should be the result of a relationship of love, and intimaterelationship between two people. That is what God is saying to hischurch. I want an intimate relationship with you. I just want to loveyou, to delight in you, to embrace you. You dont have to doanything just let me love you. I love you so much that I want to bemarried to you! Not because youve done anything but becauseyoure made in my image, and Im so excited by you that I rejoiceover you! This is so foundationally key in understanding our

identity as the bride of Christ. We have to know Gods love.

Before the bride marries the bridegroom, before they embark ontheir journey of marriage she has to know that the bridegroomloves her. It is not enough for the bridegroom to keep telling thebride that he loves her but never showing it, she needs to feel lovedby him. Then on her wedding day she is identified as this beautifulbride. How can we take hold of our identity as the bride of Christ


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if we have never encountered or experienced his love? Its notenough knowing it in your head, we need to know it and feel it inour heart. When we have a touch of Gods love then it changes usand were never the same again, and we start to see our trueidentity. We start to see ourselves the way God sees us, as thisbeautiful precious bride. As a crown of splendour held in his hand.We must encounter the love of God in order for us to take on ouridentity as the bride of Christ.

God has a destiny and a purpose for each of us individually, as wellas all of us corporately. God has a plan and a purpose for his bride,his church. Weve been seeing God move in many ways over thelast few years throughout the world. God wants his church tobecome increasingly aware of his presence where people will bechanged, where people will hear his voice, where people will only be

speaking out the prophetic word., where people will feel his love,peace and joy. Where people will encounter God in all his fullness.Last year we saw the outpouring taking place in Florida, God wasmoving. In Bethel church in Redding, California they have beenexperiencing a revival for the past few years, where people arecontinually getting healed, where people are coming to know Jesus,and the presence of God is so evident there. God is on the moveand we as his church are on the brink of something. There is a

wave of the Spirit coming that is going to hit the nation. God islonging to sweep this nation with his love, grace and power and hewants to do it through his church. Through us. Through you! Wehave a part to play. Jesus is coming back for this beautiful gloriousbride. It is time for the church to rise up and shine, to come intoher identity as the bride of Christ.


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In July of this year God gave me a vision of this. I had this pictureof myself walking along a beach. As I was walking I could see Jesuswalking in front of me when I saw it was Jesus I started speeding upto get closer to him and I was trying to show him that I wanted tobe so close to him walking in his ways and that I was right behindhim following his every move. I knew that he wanted me to followhim and watch what he was doing. As I was walking right behindhim he put his hand out and I knew he was beckoning me to go and

walk alongside him. I felt the Lord say to me Do not walk behindme, but alongside me. Give me your hand, for you do not have tolook at the back of me, come and walk beside me. For I am thebridegroom and you are the bride. Walk beside me beautiful bride,for this is the season I am leading my church into. It is a newseason. It is time for the bride and the bridegroom to walkalongside one another. It is time for my church to be visible. Godis calling his church to be intimate with him. For us to walk hand in

hand with him. For us to be joined with him hand in hand. For usto be one with him.

Isaiah 60:1-3

Arise, shine, for your light has come,and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.See darkness covers the earthAnd thick darkness is over the peoples,But the LORD rises upon youAnd his glory appears over you.Nations will come to your light,And kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Arise and shine, for your light has come and the glory of theLord rises upon you! Now is the time for us to rise up and shine.

Now is the time for the bride to shine with the glory of her Lord!


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Were not to rise up and shine when Jesus returns, but before so hecan return to his beautiful glorious bride. If you read the rest ofthis Isaiah 60 passage it later says Lift up your eyes and lookabout you: all assemble and come to you; your sons comefrom afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm and inthe Isaiah 62 passage it mentions how nations will see yourrighteousness and all kings your glory. You see people will bedrawn in as the bride shines and radiates the glory of her Lord. We

will shine out Jesus reflecting him in all his glory, all his love, all hispower etc.

This is a new season God is leading his church into. He is saying itis time for my bride to be visible; it is time for the bride and thebridegroom to walk alongside one another, to be seen as one. Thisis why our own personal relationship with Jesus is so key, as we

need to continually need to get to know him more and more. Weneed to know him intimately and encounter his love for us! Itsokay for us to keep falling in love with Jesus over and over again,because the more we get to know him the more intimate webecome with him and the more we love him. Jesus is extremelyloveable. He is not this distant person we may have in our mindshe is intimate and lovely. It isnt enough to have a one offexperience of Gods love. God wants us to continually know his

love, to live in it and to rest in it. God wants to keep filling us withhis love, telling us he loves us. Like a father may say to his child Ilove you so does God say to us over and over again I love you Ilove you I love you. God wants to become one with us. Godwants to become one with his church, with his bride.

Ephesians 5:31-32 For this reason a man will leave his fatherand mother and be united to his wife, and the two will


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become one flesh. This is a profound mystery but I amtalking about Christ and the church.

When people get married they usually take on their partnerssurname. So with us

Isaiah 62:4 No longer will they call you Deserted, or name

your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah27,and your land Beulah28; for the LORD will take delightin you, and your land will be married.

When we come to know Jesus we take on a whole new identity, anew name. You are Gods delight and his delight is in you. God isyour husband see Isaiah 54. Our identity is now found in Jesusand as C.S Lewis puts it we are all little Christs29. You new surnameis that of Christ.

This is a new season God is bringing his church into. This is thetime, this is the place, its time to rise up beautiful bride! Its timefor you to be visible. Its time for the bride and the bridegroom to walk alongside one another hand in hand. No more hiding, nomore being afraid, no more feeling inadequate, you are my bride. It

27 Hephzibah means my delight is in her.

28 Beulah means married.

29 C.S. Lewis,Mere Christianity, Book IV, Chapter 7


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is time for the church to be seen as one one with the Father justas Jesus was one with the Father so will you be. I believe a time iscoming where we will know Gods presence like never before, whenwe will have allowed him to invade us so much that we will hear hisvoice more clearly, where we will receive revelation from his wordlike never before. The Bible will become such a part of us that wewill be abiding in it. We will no longer have to keep reading aboutour identity, what God says about us in the word, who we are in

Jesus but we will know it and be it. We will be so entwined withJesus that we will become one with him.

Discussion Points1. Discuss the suggestion that there are some people who will

always find the idea difficult of being the Fathers child or Jesus bride.However, should we always persist with these concepts as they areso strong in the Bible?

2. It is sometimes said that the depth of our relationship withGod is determined by how hungry we are for him. What do we dothat limits his intimacy with us?

3. Read Ephesians 5:21-33 very carefully. See how Paul weavestogether the two pictures of the church as the bride of Christ and

the body of Christ. In his quotation from Genesis 2:24 he helps ussee that when we offer ourselves as Jesus bride, he comes to live inus so that we are quite literally his flesh here on earth. What doesthis mean for the church?

4. With reference to Ephesians 5:26-27, how is Jesus making usready to be his bride?


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8 Experiencing the Presenceof Godor God to make his presence evident to one or more humanbeings, he needs to somehow reveal part of his infinite being

to very finite creatures. If you ask most people how theyexperience Gods presence, they will often speak about somethingintangible, perhaps a feeling or something at the edge of perception. As C.S. Lewis has pointed out so powerfully in his sermonTransposition30, we have only a very limited range of emotions whichare evoked under many different circumstances. To feel that Godis there is a good starting point, but we need something more to bereally sure that it is him. God is love31 and therefore the closestanalogy in everyday life to knowing Gods presence, is enjoying thecompany of those we love. When we get together we bless eachother by communicating, by doing things for each other, by servingeach other, by sharing in the everyday tasks and joys of life. So it iswith God, when we are in his presence he speaks to us, he revealsmore of himself and he listens and responds to what we say. He works in us and with us in what we sometimes call signs andwonders. He directs us along paths to draw us closer to him. He

30 C.S. Lewis, Transpositionin Screwtape Proposes a Toast, (Glasgow, Collins, 1965)

31 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16

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does all this in a way which is consistent with what he has alreadyrevealed about his nature, in our experience, in the Bible andsupremely in the person of Jesus Christ. Yet everything he says ordoes is fresh, exciting, original; he is truly the God of surprises.

It may be good to test that we really are experiencing Godspresence, but ultimately we will have to step out in faith, like Peter

on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus allowed him to check that it was reallyhis Lord.

Matthew 14:28-29 Lord, if its you, Peter replied, tell me tocome to you on the water. Come, he said. Then Petergot down out of the boat, walked on the water and cametowards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraidand, beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me!Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caughthim. You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt?

Once we encounter the Lord Jesus, he is always there to catch us ifour faith fails.

The Transfiguration was a wonderful opportunity for Peter, Jamesand John to experience the presence of the Father and the Son.Jesus was transformed before them at the Transfiguration (the sameGreek word, metamorfow, metamorphoo, is usually translatedtransfigured in Matthew 17:2; and transformed in Romans 12:2and 2 Corinthians 3:18). Jesus manifested the glory of God in adirect and undeniable way. His authority was confirmed by theadditional presence of Moses and Elijah.


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The contrast we need to draw here is between what the threedisciples experienced and Peters initial reaction. He believed thatwhat was needed was a traditional religious act, he wanted to set upbooths as are used by the Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles, and hewanted to prolong and fossilise the experience.

Matthew 17:4-5 Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to

be here. If you wish, I will put up three sheltersone for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. While he wasstill speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and avoice from the cloud said, This is my Son, whom I love;with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!

The Father is gracious and he intervened to stop Peter even beforehe finished speaking. True worship always seems to result in the

worshipper receiving revelation, it is then his/her responsibility toact on what has been revealed, which often guides the subsequentflow of the worship. The next action by the three seems muchmore appropriate:

Matthew 17:6-7 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and

touched them. Get up, he said. Dont be afraid.

True worship results in a direct encounter with God. And then,what could be better than to feel Jesus touch on your life and tohear gentle, reassuring words from him?

There is one other occasion recorded in the New Testament when

Peter has a heavenly visitation and that was when he was on the


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roof of the house of Simon the Tanner32

. A sheet with all kinds ofunclean animals is lowered from heaven, and he is told to kill andeat. This leads to what is sometimes called the Gentile Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the household of theRoman Centurion, Cornelius. This time Peter acts according to therevelation and orders that all should be baptised, even though they were Gentiles. He stepped away from the religious norm inresponse to a revelation and is rewarded by a great demonstration

of Gods power and mercy.

My Presence will go with you

After the Golden Calf incident, Gods plan for the Israelites was forthem to go and take the Promised Land with an angel to drive outtheir enemies33, but without his presence. Moses petitioned God

and received his assurance.

Exodus 33:14-16 The LORD replied, My Presence will gowith you, and I will give you rest. Then Moses said tohim, If your Presence does not go with us, do not sendus up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go

with us? What else will distinguish me and your people

32 Acts 10

33 Exodus 33:3


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from all the other people on the face of the earth?

Moses made a vital point here. Ultimately, what distinguishesGods people from everyone else is that the presence of God goes with them. Any other distinctions are superficial and secondary. We expect Christians to be more moral, more joyful, morecompassionate, etc. than other people, and that is often ourexperience, as the Holy Spirit works in them; but Christians do not

have a monopoly on these qualities. The whole human race is madein Gods image34 and we all share in his characteristics to a greateror lesser extent. But it is Gods tangible presence, or it should be,that makes Christians different. John Wesley knew this; his last words were spoken twice, with great passion, The best of all is,God is with us.

Discussion Points1. Talk about times when you have felt Gods presence especiallypowerfully?

2. Share any times you have tested that it really is Godspresence? What have you asked him? How has he responded?

3. Bill Johnson says that God manifests his presence to the

extent that he can trust us not to make a representation (or idol) ofthe experience. Can he trust you?

34 Genesis 1:26


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9 Saul vs. David Worshipping in Spirit andTrutht is very interesting to compare the first two kings of Israel, Sauland David, in another great Biblical contrast. These two stand

out from the rest of the kings in that they were directly selected byGod, rather than by inheritance or a coup dtat. After Samuel

anointed Saul king over Israel, he said,

1 Samuel 10:5-7 you will go to Gibeah of God, wherethere is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming downfrom the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes andharps being played before them, and they will beprophesying. The Spirit of the LORD will come uponyou in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once thesesigns are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, forGod is with you.

Saul was anointed with oil and with the Holy Spirit, and by thestandards of the later monarchs, Saul was a good king. However,

God took the monarchy away from him and gave it to David, and

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for just one reason Saul led worship to please the people on twooccasions. In the first (1 Samuel 13:8-14) he was not prepared towait for Samuel to come to make the planned sacrifice because hismen were scattering, so he offered up the burnt offering himself.When Samuel arrived shortly afterwards, he informed Saul of Godsjudgement on him that he would be replaced as king. Sauls errorwas to use an act of worship for his own purpose; in this case, tohold the army together. Until we get an appreciation of the

seriousness of this sin, we will never enter Gods best for us.

The second time is in 1 Samuel 15. God sent Samuel to instructSaul to completely destroy the Amalekites and all their livestock.In this Saul, was completely successful, except that he and the armyspared the king and the best of the cattle and sheep. Saul gave intohis men and allowed them to keep these animals to sacrifice to the

Lord. Samuel relayed Gods disappointment with the king he hadchosen:

1 Samuel 15:22-23 Samuel replied: Does the LORD delightin burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeyingthe voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice,and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion islike the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil ofidolatry. Because you have rejected the word of theLORD, he has rejected you as king.

Saul confessed exactly what had happened:

1 Samuel 15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I violated the LORDs command and your instructions. I


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was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.

This is a lesson to all of us in any kind of Christian leadership; thegreat temptation is to do what the people want. We must not givein, particularly when we are planning or leading an act of worship.If we trust him, the Holy Spirit will give us all the guidance we need. To short-circuit him to please the people invites rejection fromGod.

In contrast, David did not worry about what other people thoughtof him; he just worshiped God with every part of his being, he didnot care if his wife or anyone else despised him, he was going togive God everything he had.

2 Samuel 6:14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced beforethe LORD with all his might, 22 I will become evenmore undignified than this, and I will be humiliated inmy own eyes

The people also realized that David was far more effective in hisministry than Saul

1 Samuel 18:7 As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain histhousands, and David his tens of thousands."


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We will see this pattern; those who are willing to work just forGods glory, are more productive, even in the worlds eyes, thanthose who compromise by using the things of men36. However,effectiveness in ministry must not be our motivation; all we need, all we desire, our complete fulfilment is found in God alone. AsDavid wrote:

Psalms 27:8

My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Yourface, LORD, I will seek.37

Moses before and after the Burning Bush

The life story of Moses gives us another valuable Biblical contrast inthat, before he was given his marching orders by God, Moses triedto save the people in his own strength. Stephen tells us whathappened when Moses was 40 years old, and he thought he could

lead a rebellion against the Egyptians:

Acts 7:25 Moses thought that his own people wouldrealise that God was using him to rescue them, but theydid not

36 See Matthew 16:23

37 In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the same word is used for face, presence and

before.


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God needed Moses to wait another 40 years, just tending sheep,until he received his revelation at the Burning Bush. Again,Stephens commentary is helpful:

Acts 7:35 This is the same Moses whom they hadrejected with the words, Who made you ruler andjudge? He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by

God himself, through the angel who appeared to him inthe bush

Although the Israelites continued to grumble against Moses, theyaccepted his leadership, and saw the salvation which God workedthrough him. The contrast between doing things mans way andGods couldnt be clearer.

Discussion Points1. Read 2 Samuel 6. How can we follow David in his worship ofGod?

2. We know that God does bless those who are, like David,

sold-out for him. How can we make sure we are just seeking Godsglory when we worship, and not his blessing, or worldly success orthe approval of others?

3. Read Psalm 27 (together if you are in a group). David doesnot minimise his concerns and fears, but he glorifies God in the midstof them. How can we be equally trusting?

4. Read the story of Moses as told by Stephen (Acts 7:14-43). In

his description of the Golden Calf he says that if we celebrateanything we have created (even religious things like churchtraditions), God will not stop us being led astray and worshipping


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other created things. Discuss whether you can see this in history,the world today or in your own experience.

5. Read the original account of the Burning Bush (Exodus 3).How does God relate to Moses? Can you see parallels to this withother Biblical characters or with people today?


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10 Entering the Presence ofGodow do we enter the presence of God? There truly is noformula; God is sovereign and in this area above all:

Romans 9:15-16 For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore,depend on mans desire or effort, but on Gods mercy.

Yet there are some principles that can facilitate experiencing hispresence.

Worship

If we love God, it is the most natural thing in the world to expressit in worship. Heaven is the place where creation is in the direct,manifest presence of its creator, and Biblical descriptions of heaven

are full of continuous, heartfelt, exuberant worship. Therefore, thebest place to start in the quest for the manifest presence of God isby worshipping him. We have seen earlier the kind of worship thatis acceptable, summed up as:

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view ofGods mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,

holy and pleasing to Godthis is your spiritual act of

H


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worship.

It is part of Gods provision that worship is an activity that is bestdone together, so that we can enter Gods presence in fellowshipwith others that love him. This means that we can encourage eachother and we have the confirmation that it really is God at work inus as we share our experience of him.

It may seem surprising that worship comes before prayer in seekingGods presence, but praise has precedence over prayer because themost important things, God has already done.

Worship is humanitys full reason for existence. Worship is why weare born and why we are born again. Worship is the reason for ourGenesis in the first place and our re-Genesis that we call regeneration.Worship is why there is a church, the assembly of the redeemed, in thefirst pace. Every Christian church in every country across the world inevery generation exists to worship God first, not second. Not tackingworship at the end of our service as an afterthought, but primarily witheverything else coming in second at best. Worshipping God is our firstcall.38

Openness and Intimacy

The most important thing we need to know about God is that heloves each one of us. If you love someone, you never force

38 A.W. Tozer, The Worship-Driven Life, (Oxford, Monarch Books, 2008), Chapter 2,


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anything on them, even if you think that it is for their ultimategood. It is the same with God, he never forces his presence on usbecause he wants us to have a free choice whether to accept orreject him. It may cause him great pain, but like the father in theparable of the prodigal son39, he will allow us to go our own way.Therefore, in order to experience Gods presence, we have to givehim permission to manifest this in any way he desires. Givingpermission is not a formal action, like signing a piece of paper.

Rather it is an attitude of heart that says to God, I am desperatefor more of you touch my life in any way you decide, because Iknow that you love me and will always do what is best for me.

This attitude of openness with the Father is exactly what Jesusexhibited when he was on earth. He takes it further by the use ofthe little word in. He tells us repeatedly in Johns Gospel, that his

openness and intimacy with the Father means that he is in theFather and the Father is in him. For example,

John 14:10 Dont you believe that I am in the Father, andthat the Father is in me? The words I say to you are notjust my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who isdoing his work.

We can only just glimpse at the edge of the penumbra of therelationship between Father and Son, but we see in Jesus what it

39 Luke 11:15-32


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means to allow the Father to be sovereign in our lives. We have Jesus promise in his prayer to the Father that he will always be working so that we are able to experience something of the lovethat holds the Trinity together.

John 17:25-26 Righteous Father, though the world doesnot know you, I know you, and they know that you have

sent me. I have made you known to them, and willcontinue to make you known in order that the love youhave for me may be in them and that I myself may be inthem.

The culmination of Jesus great high-priestly prayer is a promise tocontinue to reveal the Father to us so that we will know his loveand will experience the presence of Jesus living in us. Intimacy with

us is Jesus deepest desire.

Rejection of substitutes

We have looked at the way the church down the ages has inventedways of representing the presence of God with his people. God isgracious and will manifest his presence to individuals when we usesubstitutes, but how much more will he meet with us if we are

willing just to wait on him. A key factor here ispatience. God issovereign over time, and he always chooses exactly the rightmoment to act. The Jews had to wait 400 years after the lastprophet before the birth of the Messiah; the disciples had to wait 10days from Jesus ascension to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Inboth cases they had no idea of how long they would have to wait,but this is part of our surrender to the sovereignty of God. Whatwe must not do is to try to hurry things along by our efforts, with

the examples of the Golden Calf and Ishmael before us.


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The first step back is repentance; we need to acknowledge that whatwe have been doing for so many centuries is not only ineffective, itis wrong. In the world, we may have to compromise in manysituations. The statement Politics is the art of the possible40implies that to get anything done we will always have to settle forthe middle-ground, that which is at least acceptable by all partiesconcerned. The worlds way of thinking has been conditioned by

the Theory of Evolution, we think that improvements only come bya series of small adaptations, but Gods way of working is different,he doesnt mind big dramatic changes.

Worship is for God alone, as soon as we start to plan our worshiparound peoples preferences we are compromising with Godhimself. We are also not walking by faith if we are just looking at

peoples needs and desires, and we know that:

Hebrews 11:6 without faith it is impossible to please God,because anyone who comes to him must believe that heexists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Each time we organise our worship to meet peoples needs, desires

and preferences we are not trusting God to reward us with a realsense of his presence when we meet with him. Our worship needs

40 Otto Von Bismarck, remark, Aug. 11, 1867


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to be a time when everything else is overwhelmed by us earnestlyseeking him.

So it is important first of all to look at what we have been doing andto try and see it from Gods perspective. We need to ask him toshow us where we have compromised in our worship, when wehave not had the courage to wait for the Holy Spirit to lead us, what

things that we say are a man-made representation of him. We needto ask for forgiveness, and to remember that the New Testamentword for repentance is metanoiametanoiawhich means a change ofmind. True repentance means being determined to turn away fromwhat we have been doing and to go in a new direction. We need toask the Holy Spirit to prick our consciences each time we aretempted to go back to the safe old ways, following the patterns thathave proved popular in the past. Also, we need the Holy Spirits

prompting to arrest us if we are tempted to do something new, thatwe believe will appeal to all or part of our target audience.

Worship using man-made substitutes is not a new problem, Jesusconfronted the Pharisees with these words from Isaiah:

Isaiah 29:13 The LORD says: These people come near to

me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, buttheir hearts are far from me. Their worship of me ismade up only of rules taught by men.

Desire

2 Chronicles 16:7-9 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asaking of Judah and said to him: Because you relied onthe king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the

army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.


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Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army withgreat numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when yourelied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand.For the eyes of the LORD range throughout theearth to strengthen those whose hearts are fullycommitted to him. You have done a foolish thing, andfrom now on you will be at war.

If our hearts are committed to God he searches for us, if weworship him in spirit and truth he seeks us out41. This is all he asksof us, but it so easy to get distracted by lesser goals. It may seemselfish to have ones whole being fixed on just knowing andexperiencing God, but we can do so much more for others if he isworking in us, than if we just rely on our own strength, cunning,compassion, etc. We need always to put the two greatcommandments in their correct order.

Mark 12:29-31 The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, theLord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heartand with all your soul and with all your mind and withall your strength. The second is this: Love yourneighbour as yourself. There is no commandment

greater than these.

41 John 4:23


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A vital component of love is desire for the beloved; Jesusemphasises this in that we are to throw every part of ourselves intoour love for the Lord our God. Our love for each other must flowfrom our love for God, and be pale in comparison.

Some time ago I called to see Mr. George Cutting, the writer of thewell-known tractSafety, Certainty and Enjoyment. When I was

ushered into the presence of this old saint of ninety-three years, he tookmy hand in his and in a quiet, deliberate way he said: 'Brother, do youknow, I cannot do without Him? And do you know, He cannot dowithout me?'42

Letting go

Ultimately, there is only one way to know Gods presences, that isto let go and let God be God. When the Adam and Eve rebelled in

the garden, they were declaring, like the Rhodesian regime of IanSmith, U.D.I. (Unilateral Declaration of Independence). Thecouple were saying to God, We dont need you to know thedifference between good and evil. Unless we are willing tosurrender our judgement of how we should do things to his will, hisgood, pleasing and perfect will43, then we will never reclaim theintimacy that Adam and Eve enjoyed before the Fall. To knowGods will requires the transformation that comes from a renewed

42 Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life, Chapter 7

43 Romans 12:2


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mind, which means that we need to give up on conforming to theway the world thinks.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern ofthis world, but be transformed by the renewing of yourmind. Then you will be able to test and approve whatGods will ishis good, pleasing and perfect will.

The word that is translated world is aiwn aion, more oftenrendered as age. This means that we may need not only to rejectthe patterns of thinking of the secular world, but also of the churchof today. One key factor in Gods nature is that he is infinitelycreative he can always give us new ways of worshipping him, ofseeking his face, of meeting with him. If we are willing to give upon the familiar patterns, the spiritual disciplines and the man-made

substitutes for true Holy Spirit-led worship, then God will meetwith us as we surrender ourselves to him. The previous verses tothe above in the Book of Romans reassure us that when wesacrifice ourselves, then this isacceptable to God, if we are willingto surrender all.

Romans 11:33-12:1 Oh, the depth of the riches of thewisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable hisjudgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who hasknown the mind of the Lord? Or who has been hiscounsellor? Who has ever given to God, that Godshould repay him? For from him and through him andto him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of Gods mercy,to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy andpleasing to Godthis is your spiritual act of worship.


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Every sacrifice has to give up on the possibility of independentaction. We have nothing else to bring before God, becauseeverything we make in our own strength is tainted by our humanpride44. When we meet with God, there is only one possiblereaction worship; and we have only one possible sacrifice to bring ourselves. The wonderful thing is, when I sacrifice myself beforeGod, I know that this is acceptable to him. If I am in Christ, then

the living sacrifice of my body is made worthy by Jesus totalsacrifice of himself on the cross. There is nothing I have to do,because Jesus has done it all.

Everything else is then up to God. The Holy Spirit can always giveus new and original ways to express our worship; we can allow himto be our worship leader as we gladly follow. This requires faith,

patience, willingness and courage on our part, but not cleverness,ingenuity, talent, or artistic ability. We must come to worship withno pre-conceptions as to what is OK by any human measure, theonly questions at the end of the service should be Have we metwith God? and What has he revealed?.

44 People sometimes use the analogy of a painting done by a child and brought to itsparents as a justification for a work of art being an acceptable offering before God. It isimportant to note that all the Old Testament sacrifices were things created by God (mainly

animals), the things created by man merely provided the environment for worship.


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Discussion Points1. People sometimes say things like, I worship God when I helpmy neighbour, but we have seen that true worship is focussed on

God alone. Given that worship must be single-minded and totallyvertical, are there any everyday activities that are worshipping Godin Spirit and truth45?

2. Over 120 times the New Testament tells us that we are inChrist, and over 20 times that Christ is in us46. Discuss the

significance of this for the believer. What does it mean to be inChrist? How does Jesus manifest his presence in us?

3. Read Jesus great prayer in John 17. Try to summarise Jesusheart for the disciples and our lives on earth.

4. How can we discern when corporate worship is being led toplease us or other people in the congregation? How can we

encourage worship leaders to just focus on God?5. How do you offer your body as a living sacrifice47? Howdoes this relate to Jesus sacrifice of himself on the cross (seeHebrews 10:10)?

45 John 4:23-24

46 For example: John 14:20 On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, andyou are in me, and I am in you.

47 Romans 12:1


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11 The Muller PrincipleSummary of the Muller Principle

he church in the 21st Century needs to live out what we can

call the Muller principle. George Muller wrote about hiswork in running orphanages in the 19th Century: His glory was mychiefaim, i.e., that it might be seen that it is not a vain thing to trust in theliving God, - and that my second aim was the spiritual welfare of the orphan

Life in the Presence

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