Understanding His Presence 2 (biblical Examples)

Church is and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] (Singing) We are gathering together unto thee. Oh, we are gathering together unto thee. Unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto thee, unto the Lord. We are gathering together unto thee, unto the Lord. Unto the Lord, unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto thee. Our Father, unto you be glory. Unto you be honor. Unto you be adoration. We appreciate you for your love. We thank you for your mercies. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for all who you are. We thank you for all that you are. We bless your holy name. Who is like unto thee? Who is like thee? You are glorious in holiness. You are fearful in praises. You are doing wonders. Oh God Almighty, oh God Almighty, unto you we gather again this Monday, the 20th day of September 2021. Unto you we gather. As we gather unto you, oh Lord, we pray that you will speak to our hearts. You will speak to our situation. You will address our circumstances. You will make your word to become personal, applicable to our particular situations in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our God, we pray, Paul plants, Apollos water, it is only you that can give increase to every labor. Lord, we pray, give increase to this labor this evening in the name of Jesus Christ. Our eyes are on you, oh Lord. Let nothing prevail against your purposes for our lives in the name of Jesus. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Last week, we started the topic, Understanding His Presence, or Living in His Presence, or Practicing the Presence of the Lord. We were looking at that as a kind of rounding up of the series on We That Are of the Day. When the scripture was concluding in 1 Thessalonians 5, where we were instructed that, "But let us, who are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as helmet, the hope of salvation." We saw that the next thing that the scripture says is, "For God has not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." So we saw that there is an intent of God to bring us into His presence eventually. There is this intent of God. Because there is an intent of God to bring us into His presence eventually, God has this plan in His purpose that having made us holy while we are here, eventually those holy people will be gathered into His presence. Because there is an ultimate plan of God to gather us into His presence, there is a need for us to understand the presence of the Lord. There is a need to understand how to live in that presence of the Lord. There is a need to understand it, there is a need to appreciate it, there is a need to look closely at that. Last week, that was what we began. One important thing to note is that the Lord said, "I will be with you always." That gave us both a privilege and a responsibility. The privilege it is giving us is that He will not leave us. He is ever with us. Even in the darkest periods of our lives, the Lord is with us. In those times when it looks as if the storm is overwhelming, when it looks like our hearts are overwhelmed, at those points, those critical juncture, we saw from the words of the Lord that the Lord said, "I am with you always." There is that privilege to know that He is ever with us. If we understand that, we understand the privilege that we have in taking everything to God, because He is ever there. He is ever there for us. It is giving us a responsibility. The responsibility of understanding that if God is ever there, then we must live in the consciousness of that, His presence. When the parents are present, you will notice that that physical presence of the parents makes children, even if they are rascals, there is this sense of Daddy and Mommy are here. If they have to be hypocritical for that time, they will be hypocritical. They will try to live at least to the expectation because of that presence. It is just the same thing. Understanding His presence, living in His presence is that ability to know that God is ever there. There is no secret life. There is nothing that is in secret. Our life is ever before Him. He is ever present. We gave the life of Joseph as biblical example of men who understood this matter. Before we enter that biblical example, I must not fail to also mention that we said last week that when Jesus was speaking with the Samaritan woman, Jesus made it clear that neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem would we worship God. We would not worship God in Jerusalem or in a mountain. I noted last week that the worship of God must transcend the four walls of our churches. We don't just worship God, you don't turn church to a shrine as if God is worshipped like Ogun and Sango and other local deities or deified things among men. You don't worship God like that. God is to be worshipped everywhere. His presence is everywhere. God is not just in one sanctuary. God is everywhere. It is neither in Jerusalem nor in one mountain. I also noted last week that you don't attach the presence of God to a mountain. That, "Let me go to one mountain where God is." There is nothing like that. The purpose of mountain is to be able to separate ourselves from distraction, to be able to separate ourselves from the crowd, to be alone with God. Anywhere we can be alone with God is a mountain experience. So you must not necessarily climb one mountain so that we can understand the concept of Ori Oke. It is important to understand that the presence of God is, according to Jesus, He said you don't need a mountain and you don't need a sacred place, a Jerusalem. No. Rather, God is spirit. God is spirit. And anybody that wants to worship God must worship God in spirit and in truth. That is just trying to capture some of the things we looked at last week for the benefit of our brethren who would just be joining up with us this week. Then that was when we went to the biblical example and we saw the life of Joseph. Joseph in the house of Potiphar, a man that actually he had no supervision. There was no supervising officer. There was no EFCC to monitor how he was transferring money from one bank to the other. There was nothing to probe him. Everything was left into his hand. But that man remained faithful. He was so faithful to the point that when Potiphar's wife tried to break the hedge, Joseph stood within the hedge. Joseph told her, "Madam, it's like you don't understand what you are saying. Everything in this house is under my care. There is nothing that is not under my care. It is only you, and the only reason why you are not put under me is because you are my master's wife." He said, "So why will I do this wickedness?" You notice the restraint of Joseph. It was not a sin against Potiphar. Potiphar is a small issue. And that's what I tell people. Economic and Financial Crime Commission, they are small issues. Even if they don't catch you, even if you are not caught here on earth, the Bible says there are some men that their sin go before them, but there are some that their sin will come after them. There is a God in heaven that will judge all unfaithfulness of man, all unfaithfulness of any man, everything that every man does. There is a God in heaven to which he shall be accountable. That was the understanding of Joseph, that there is a God in Potiphar's house. There is a God in everything he doing. There is a God that he must be true to. There is a God. Joseph understood the presence of God. Joseph did not have any fellowship center. There was no church at all. He was a one-man church. Everywhere he was was church. He understood that the presence of God, that God is spirit, and those to worship Him must worship God everywhere, in everything, in whatever they do. Joseph understood the presence of God. He was the first biblical example that we actually considered last week. This week we want to move on to look at more things about this matter of His presence. We are looking more at biblical examples of men who understand the matter of His presence. Today I want us to look at that of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 2:1-5. We want to look at what happened here. Nehemiah 2:1-5 says, "It came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said to me, 'Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.' So I became dreadfully afraid, and said to the king, 'May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?' Then the king said to me, 'What do you request?' So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, 'If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.'" Permit me to read a little further. "Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), 'How long will your journey be? And when will you return?' So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Furthermore I said to the king, 'If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.' And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me." Praise the Lord. I just wanted us to see that there was a positive response. What is it that we are looking at here? We are looking at men who have a proper understanding of His presence, the presence of the Lord. And I just want to call your attention to something that made me to see the inner life of Nehemiah. Please don't forget that in the chapter 1, when the news came to Nehemiah, he wept, he cried, he mourned, he mourned and fasted, and fasted and prayed. You will find that in chapter 1. In chapter 2, the Bible says something here that actually I want to call your attention to. Look at the verse 4 of chapter 2 of the book of Nehemiah. It says, "Then the king said to me, 'What do you request?' So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said to the king." Hallelujah. I'm showing you something in between the lines. When the king told Nehemiah, "Nehemiah, okay, what do you want me to do for you?" You can see that Nehemiah is someone who have a proper understanding of the presence of the Lord, even on his career, in serving the king wine, in discussing with the king. Nehemiah understood the presence of God being able to respond to prayer. Between that conversation, the king asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" Before the response came back to the king, there was a prayer. I'm trying to make you see men who have correct understanding of God's presence, men who live constantly in the presence of God. He knew that there is a need for a prayer. I need to quickly turn this request back to God. Nehemiah, what do you want? And quickly, there was a cry to God within the inner man, a cry inside, this cry you cry when you are before your superior. He cried to God inside himself, "Baba, let my request be granted. Whatever I ask this man, I receive today. Lord, grant this request to me." He just cried inside himself to God, and God responded to that prayer. I'm talking of understanding the presence of God. Don't forget that in chapter 1, he had taken time. Let me just read a few things in chapter 1, just to call your attention to what I'm trying to say. "The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, 'The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.' So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven." So you see that it's not as if this man did not have a time tarrying in God's presence, a time alone, a time of prayer. He had a clear understanding that the presence of God is not just in that place. The presence of God goes with him everywhere. When the opportunity came again before the king and the king said, "What will you request?" he quickly again connected back to that same presence and quickly cried again to God, "Lord, this is the opportunity to make the request. Lord, I pray, let this man grant my request." I'm trying to make you understand what the Bible meant when the Bible says we should pray without ceasing. What the Bible is saying is that we should carry the presence of God everywhere, in our closets even as we drive, in our duty post as we serve our superior, as we serve our subordinate. In everything we do, we should carry that presence everywhere. We should have an understanding that the presence of God is everywhere with us. There's absolutely nothing secular. That is why you as a Christian, there is nothing called sacred and secular. You say, "My secular life, my job, and then my sacred life, my church." There is nothing like that. It's the same thing that affect every area of your life. In whatever you do, you do that in the name of the Lord. Jesus said a time is coming and now it is, that those to worship God must worship God in spirit and in truth. You can see the life of Nehemiah. You see how he live this life. For Nehemiah, there was nothing secular. There was nothing like his secular job. The life you live in the office is not the one you can live inside the church. The kind of things you say in the office is not the kind of things you can say inside the church. You say, "No, the presence of God," when some of you want to take Holy Communion or what some call the breaking of bread, you want to break bread. What happens? You look so sanctimonious. And after that episode, your sanctimony is gone. You begin to talk and act and do things godlessly. It is because you don't have a clear understanding of the matter of His presence. For Nehemiah, there was nothing secular. Within the secularity, within that job that he was doing, you can see him. The Bible says the master asked him, "What is it that you want me to do?" And before the master got that response, Nehemiah cried again to God. In whatever you do, you do that in the name of the Lord. I want us to look at another biblical example. Another biblical example is David. David, so many things about David. But I want to make you look at this unusual hour in his life. I want to make you see how this man also had a clear understanding of what it means to live in the presence of the Lord. Look at what happened with David. The very familiar story. This was when Absalom rebelled against David and David fled. He fled the city. Let's see what happened in that scripture. 2 Samuel 15, precisely we are looking at verse 31. Our concern is actually verse 31. David was running away from Absalom to escape being killed. It says, "Therefore Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there." The episode that led to that was that the priest wanted to go with the ark along with David. But David said that would not be necessary. God will either, if he still finds favor in God's sight, God will bring him back to meet the ark. And if not, then there will be no need carrying the ark after him. The ark should remain where the ark should be. It is God that determines who will be able to worship before that ark. So they returned back with the ark. Then verse 30. "So David went up by the Ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up." It was a very bad time for David. It was a sorrowful time. His own son rebelled against him. His own son slept with the concubines that he left behind. His own son did such great atrocity, heinous crime against the father. And the father was afraid for his life. The father was fleeing from the son. What a shameful thing. What a sorrowful thing. What a disgraceful thing that was happening in Jerusalem. And so for David, it was a time of weeping. It was a time of sorrow. It was a hard and difficult time to bear for David. It was such a difficult time for him. As he went up, he wept, and he had his head covered and went barefooted. It was a serious humiliation for David. He had his head covered, covered in shame, covered in mourning. The covering here is talking about a situation of mourning, a situation of sorrow. And he went barefooted, showing that he was humiliated, he had been disgraced. And he was going. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went up. It was such a sorrowful time of shame, of dishonor, of humiliation. David was going through this kind of situation. But I want you to see what happened in the verse 31. This man had a clear understanding of the presence of the Lord. The Bible says, "Then someone told David, saying, 'Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.'" Do you see what David said immediately? He understood the presence of the Lord, that even in the darkest of our darkest period, God's presence is there. Oh, may God help our generation to understand this. In the darkest of the darkest period, David the mighty man of war, David who had won battle, a whole king of the whole land, of Israel, running away from his son. The whole city crying after him, those that cared to join. They were weeping. A time of shame, of disgrace, of sorrow, of trouble. That was what it was for David. But David understood that the presence of God transcends both light and darkness. God is a God on the mountain, He is also God in the valley. God is the God in the good time, He is also God in the bad time. He is the God of the day, He is also God of the night. That is our God. I'm trying to make you understand His presence. And David prayed. That was exactly what happened. If you go to the next chapter, you will see what happened in chapter 17. Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Now let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak, and make him afraid; and all the people who are with him will flee; and I will strike only the king. Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return, except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace." And the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel. Then Absalom said, "Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he says too." I'm trying to make you understand something. God had a purpose. Somebody prayed. Jesus said, "Whenever you pray, pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth." I'm trying to make you see that this will of God that was done, it was a response to a prayer. And that is one thing I want you to understand. The reason why the Bible says pray without ceasing, why the scripture says praying all prayer and supplication in the spirit, why the Lord Jesus said men ought always to pray and not to faint, why the Bible says the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much, why the Bible says you have not because you ask not, why the Bible says if you abide in me and my word abide in you, you shall ask whatsoever you will and you will have it, is because God does things in response to prayer. God wants us to pray. Jesus said pray without ceasing. God does things in response to prayer. God wants us to understand that for us, if we don't pray always—understanding that He is always with us—praying when we are happy, praying when we are sad, praying in the good time, praying in the bad time, praying on the mountain, praying in the valley, praying when you are in trouble, praying when there is no trouble, keeping the presence of God constant. I am telling you, you will forfeit the will of God in your life. Many things about your life, you will forfeit it. David prayed in his darkest period. He understood that the presence of God is constant. He understood that something very, very well. God responded to this prayer. You will notice in chapter 17 that Hushai the Archite's counsel was favored against Ahithophel's counsel. The Bible says in verse 14, "So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, 'The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.' For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster upon Absalom." Hallelujah. I'm trying to make you understand something. God had a purpose. Somebody prayed. God does things in response to prayer. God wants us to pray. Jesus said pray without ceasing. God does things in response to prayer. And God wants us to understand that for us, if we don't pray always, we will forfeit the will of God in your life. David prayed in his darkest period. He understood the matter of this His presence. He understood it. He knew that there was a need to pray. He was weeping, he was crying, he understood that what was going on was a consequence of his own sin. He understood it. He knew because God had told him. And when he was hearing those things, he would know what Nathan told him. He knew that it was a consequence of his sin. But there was something about David. He understood that yet, "I've sinned against Him, He has forgiven me, I'm seeing the consequences of the seed I sowed. Yet I know His mercies can avail for me. His presence is still ever with us. Our God is good. Our God is good. Our God is good." Even when we fail Him, His presence is still ever with us. As Christians, we should understand that we don't have secrets. There is no secret. Our life is in the public. Our life is in the open. Our life is in the open. As it says in Hebrews 12:1, "Being surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverance this race that is set before us, laying aside every weight and every sin that easily entangles us." Why are we doing like that? Because we understand that we are surrounded by great sight of witnesses. Our life is being watched on a daily basis. It is like when footballers are playing on the stadium. When they play well, you see the spectators shout. But when they play and then they score against them, you see "hmm." That's how it is with us and heaven. It's the same thing that God was telling Satan, "Have you seen my servant Job that you could not do anything against him?" Every time Satan was trying to get Job to do it, where was God? God was there watching the whole drama. The whole of heaven were there watching the matter. There is nothing like secret. It is a misconception. It is a misunderstanding. It is sheer display of ignorance. It is naivety to think that you have a secret life. We are ever in His presence. I want us to look at one or two things again in the scriptures. Let's look at where David committed that sin itself. 2 Samuel 11:27 and I want us to compare it with Judges 2:11 and Judges 6:1. Let's look at those scriptures quickly. 2 Samuel 11 where David committed that sin, the last verse of that scripture. The Bible says in verse 27, "When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord." All your running around, all your gambling around to cover your sin, you think you are doing so many things but you don't understand, you are just doing one thing. You cannot confuse the Lord. You cannot merry-go-round your sin and give justification and you think you have confused God. David said that since I've married the woman now, after all, I killed the husband. I don't want the woman to suffer, so I've married her into my house. She will not suffer widowhood. That is what he created for his own justification. But all of those things that he was doing, Baba said, "the thing." There is no other name for rebellion. No matter how you decorate rebellion, no matter how you decorate sin, rebellion is rebellion. Sin is sin. Wickedness is wickedness. Anyhow you paint it, anyhow you color it, do anything to cover it, do anything to try to move it away from yourself. David felt that, "Am I not a just man? To be wicked is to leave the woman to suffer widowhood. You see I'm a man whose heart is a generous and a kind heart. This woman must not just suffer. Let her come to enjoy since I'm responsible for the death of her husband." That looks like it was a good David. Anyhow you try to paint it, as far as heaven is concerned, it is the thing. You're only doing one thing. You are only sinning. You're only rebelling. You're only wicked. No matter what you use to justify it and to paint it. Sin is sin. "The thing that David had done displeased God." So as quiet, as secret, as covered, as safe, David took it down and kept it somewhere. But do you notice something? The matter was just before the Lord. It was before Him. And that is why you will notice in the book of Ecclesiastes, let me quickly read that. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil." Why is he saying "even the secret thing"? He is telling you that as Christians, we should understand that we don't have secrets. There is no secret. Our life is in the public. Our life is in the open. Even those things that you have decorated and you have perfumed, that have escaped the judgment of men, those things that you have so much decorated that every time man pass around you they cannot even smell it at all. What they smell around you is a sweet aroma, even though there are several rottenness and deadness in your life. The Bible says don't forget that even the secret works, they shall be brought into judgment. Even the secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil, God will bring it to judgment. Why is he saying even the secret thing? He's telling you that as Christians, we should understand that we don't have secrets. There is no secret. Our life is in the open. Compare that with what he says in the book of Judges, Judges 2:11 and Judges 6:1. Judges 2:11 says, "Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals." So when they were busy serving Baal, it is in whose sight? In the sight of the Lord. They have become bold and wicked. But the point is that they don't understand His presence. They are thinking that it is in Jerusalem and then on the mountain, or Mount Sinai where they saw fire. They thought that is only where God is. They don't understand that He is there. That thing they did was in His sight. As He was physically present on that Mount Sinai and they were afraid, He wanted them to be afraid everywhere they are because His sight is there. A similar thing is said in Judges 6:1, "Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years." So whatever is being done, whether good or evil, where is it being done? It is in His sight. You don't have a secret life. There is no secret. It is sheer display of ignorance, it is naivety, to think that you have a secret life. We are ever in His presence. We'll close the meeting here today. The Lord will help us again. We'll proceed on this matter. God is spirit. God is spirit. And those to worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. I want you to begin to talk to God wherever you are. Father, deliver me from a vain life. Deliver me from an empty life. Help me to live in the consciousness of you. In all I think, in all I say, in all I do, help me to live in your consciousness. Father, our eyes on you. Beyond the words of the speaker, oh Lord, cause your people to hear your voice in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are: discipleship class every Monday 5:00 PM; adolescent and singles club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; marriage forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; family life seminars, regular school outreaches and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Ileri community, opposite Verry-Joy filling station along Ije-Awe road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.