God's Presence -- Oct 5
If your presence does not go with us, do not send us from here. Exodus 33:15 What other assurance does Moses have but God’s presence to go to places he’s never been before? In the next verse Moses says, “What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (v.16) What distinguishes us from anyone else, any other association of people except the presence of God to lead and guide and forgive and shelter and save; to shape us into the likeness of Jesus and to reflect his glory to the world? While we were on sabbatical we had the opportunity to describe our church to people who don’t know what churches like ours are like and to people who don’t know what any church is like. I tried to think of words that were common, understandable, and relatable to anyone. I started with “We take relationships seriously, so most of us are in a small group with people where we can talk about the message I preached and pray and support each other through lif...