Jun 24 2009
Practicing for Eternity
Good Advice.
This Teaching is Excerpt 1 from the Radio Antioch Video Podcast Episode 12. To watch the video, click the player above.
After beginning our Radio Antioch meetings last year, I have been seeking the Lord about the next steps with the ministry. I was attending a series of worship meetings in Chicago recently. I was happily worshiping one evening when the Lord stunned me with a revelation; “It’s not what you are preaching, it’s what you are doing”.
You see, we have been putting sermons on the internet for 4 years, many with a common theme about moving into that overcoming lifestyle based upon intimacy with God.
So back to the new revelations part: The Lord had said to me that it was not what we are preaching, but what we are doing. So I began to ponder what this meant. The things I have been writing the last four years center around encouraging the believer to enter into an intimate, personal relationship with the Lord and to worship with intensity and abandon. And the type of church we model here reflects these ideas. And honestly, I believe that there will be much greater freedom in the Spirit, anointing and power as we continue on this path. I also began to notice that there was a greater freedom in worship at our host church after we had our meetings here. Time and again, people would point that out to me the day after our meetings on Saturday night. I realized that the hours of prayer and worship that we were doing on Saturday night was affecting the spiritual climate in other meetings on Sunday. I dawned on me that perhaps worship-oriented meetings like we are doing could be a key strategy to raise the spiritual hunger and activity in a land dominated with “comfortable” church.
A couple of weeks ago I was at another worship service, and the Lord brought me back to one of our core teachings for a fresh look:
Exodus 33:7-11 NASB
Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came about, that everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. [8] And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. [9] And it came about, whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the Lord would speak with Moses. [10] When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. [11] Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
This tent that Moses pitched outside the camp was not the tabernacle of Moses the housed the Ark of the Covenant. The tabernacle and the ark were not constructed until Exodus 36. A number of places in scripture this tabernacle was called the tent of meeting. But in Exodus 33, this is a different tent. Moses set it up a good distance from the camp in order to meet with the Lord, as the sin of the people caused the Lord not to be in their midst. But notice in verse seven that in addition to Moses, there were those who would also go outside the camp in order to seek the Lord. They would leave behind the comfort of the camp and their fellow Israelites, leave behind the rebellion and sin so prominent at this time, and seek the presence of God. In verse 9 we see a pillar of cloud descending upon the tent, and the Lord speaking with Moses.
Verse ten is interesting. It says that when the people saw the cloud fall on this lone tent, they would worship from afar, at the doors of their own tents. They would worship, but they stayed in their comfort zone, in the camp (with all that that implies) but would not themselves go up.
This represents many in the Body of Christ today. They worship from afar, never leaving their camp, never leaving their comfort zone. They may acknowledge the glory and presence of God, but they themselves are either afraid to enter into it themselves, or unwilling to leave the comfort of the camp that they know so well. Sadly, they never really know the presence of God.
But there are those who will leave their comfort zone, leave the comfortable camp. They will seek the Lord. In verse eleven, we see that Joshua, the servant of Moses, would remain in the tent even after Moses would leave. There are those who will press in to the presence of God, leaving the camp behind. And Joshua, who left the camp behind to seek after the presence of the Lord, received his heart’s desire. In Joshua 1:5, the Lord said to Joshua: “Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you"
I have taught this particular teaching several time here, and in Africa. But I few weeks ago the Lord brought this to mind: I have been critical of those in mainstream church who “stand in the doorway of their tent” and do not really seek His presence, because I have a passion and a call to help people enter in to His presence. In Exodus, Moses had set up this tent outside of the camp. In the camp there was sin, there was rebellion, and there were those who came along with the rest of the family but did not really have a heart for God. I get the feeling that there were not all that many people that would join Moses and Joshua outside the camp. But there were some that were hungry for More of God.
But the Lord showed me that when His presence arrived at the tent, even those standing in the door of the tent would bow and worship. When Joshua, and Moses and others went to meet with the Lord and the pillar of cloud representing the presence of God came, even those who would not enter in directly were drawn into worship. So now I understood that a small group of believers that would press in to the presence of God had a powerful impact.
The Lord showed me that I did not understand those who like "comfortable” church, perhaps the “less radical” crowd, or the “seeker sensitive” congregations, or the churches that try to be “relevant” (by teaching a “soft” gospel?) because my desire is to enter into His presence, and to lead others to do the same. My heart is to help establish “Presence Based” church.
So what does this look like? When we minister in Africa, all we do is pray and worship until the presence of the Lord comes. Then, we can preach or minister. We see signs and wonders, people being healed, as the presence of God fill the place. One time we ministered until everyone was out on the floor. There was nothing else to do, I guess the service was over, so we quit! But the simple model is that we press in to the presence of God, and let the Holy Spirit soften our hearts and bring us close. Then, we teach, preach or pray for people. So we are promoting this model of presence-based church. We press in to God’s presence every time we meet. And if the Holy Spirit starts moving, maybe we don’t preach that day. A few years ago I was a guest speaker in a local church, and I told them that every time I preach, I pray beforehand that the Holy Spirit would begin to move in worship and we would just stay in God’s presence and I would preach another day. People asked me “Do you Really pray that?” YES I DO. I hold loosely to the ministry. If God has a different agenda for this service, who am I to get in the way? When I am invited to speak, I pray and prepare the message, but I would rather see God show up and we have a mini-revival, and I get bumped to next week. Everybody thought I was crazy, but then a few weeks ago in that very church that very thing happened!
Now hear my heart here- I am a teacher and love teaching and preaching the Word. But worship is the only part of our present church that we will carry into eternity. As important as offerings, mission reports, or evangelism are today, we won’t need them in Heaven. But we will worship the Lord for all eternity. So we are practicing for eternity by building our style of presence-based church.
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