You told me THE LIVING GOD IS THERE, but there is NOBODY THERE!

[b][i]Mat 23:38 And now look, your house is left to you, empty and desolate.

Eze 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.[/i][/b]

There is very fascinating part of the history...

When Julius Caesar was in his prime, he had a man by the name of Pompey who was superior general. And they became very contentious and envious of each other. And the best thing that this man could do was to ship this man to a far country.

And happened that .... and so he sent this fellow Pompey there. And Pompey arrived, like his name pompously. Soldiers got off their boats. They had wonderful horse

They took him around the town to show him what Jerusalem was. And they pointed the historic places to him, and finally he said:

"What's that building"

Oh..they said...you can't go near that. You are regarded as a heathen.

He said: "No, I'm the most powerful man in the world" -

"No you can't go near to it" -

"Why not?"

"Because God is there"

"God? We have hundreds of gods in Rome. What God is this, name that God"

And the told him that it Jehovah God. He made heaven and earth. He hung the stars in the sky, He put the light, He gave everything. This is the God Lord God Almighty. As we would say,

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,

This man was furious. "I have the right to go in there"

"You can't going there"

And he said: "Tomorrow afternoon I shall enter this temple."

And they said "You won't"

So, he came down in the main street with all his soldiers behind him, two thousand people. And this man was actually going to the temple, and people were making barrier, but he would crush down by the horses. And they said:

"You can't going there, that's dangerous, GOD is there!"

This man goes ... into the temple, and he refused to be driven back. But when he got there

Here is this arrogant man coming.

"I have a military power, I have money, I have the Roman Empire behind me and who is GOD? I will show you what I can do!"

Again as he goes in they stand against him. He comes swiping through the outside part of the temple.

This great display of power, has never been seen in that part of the world, they have never seen a man with breast plates, they have never seen a man on a horse back, they have never seen all this panoply. And they stood a gasp to see coming down the street moving towards the secret place.

And Pompeii came through the outer courts of the gentiles, and then he came through the court of Israel, and then he came through the court of women, and then he came through the courts of priests, he came to the division of the temple, the holy place, went a bit further, broke his way through there, came to the Holy of Holies with the curtain. And there's that tremendous curtain.

"I don't see anything different here! These different courts, means nothing to me!"

"NO, GOD is behind that shield of the curtain! THE HOLY ONE!"

And this arrogant man said:

"I don't care, there is nothing secret to me! I am going in there, I've come all this way and I must see your God"

"You can't go in! He dwells in light! If you step into His presence, you will go blind!

If you get in there, you will be the most uncomfortable you have ever been in your life. The Majesty of God is there!"

He came to altar, there was nothing, the gentile court, Israel court, now he comes against this barrier, just one great big curtain and behind it, God Almighty lives.

So finally He told his men, "You take your swords and cut through there, I am going in!"

And they pull the curtain on one side, and there was pitch dark.

And he burst into anger, and screamed!

"YOU LIED TO ME, you told to me that it was blinding lightening, but IT IS DARKNESS"

"You told me THE LIVING GOD IS THERE, but THERE IS NOBODY THERE"

"YOU LIARS, Your God has no more power, than my god!"

I translated that in this way:

We went to a church few years ago to preach, and the church was 35 acres of land, there were tennis courts, and I don't know what kind of courts were there. And I visualize: instead of this brilliant young military man coming here into the temple of old, some young people in America if come, they come to the outside, they pass the tennis courts, they pass the volleyball courts, they pass all the tennis courts and everything, and finally they come to the the temple, and they say:

[b]"WHERE IS YOUR GOD?"

Is not that what the people are asking today?

"Where is the Lord God of the Elijah?"[/b]

Excerpt beginning around 15min. from:

Anahiem Talk on Revival
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=4246

I think in a lot of ways it is because men are seeking they know not what. Today, God does not dwell in temples made with hands. God desires to abide in the assembly of believers as they meet together in fellowship. God shows up in scenerios that have been outlawed or neglected by 98% of the churches. The book of I Corinthians tells us about church life and God 'showing up' in an assembly. Men did not cry "God is not here" when folk prophesied by the Spirit; they said, "Of a truth God [u]is[/u] among you."

An ongoing point of stumbling, I think, is that in seeking for revival too often a point is made to somehow display [i]our[/i] holiness and piety. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. When we are willing to admit that we are helpless sinners God will start to show up. But why should he come to see us set our piety on display? He is coming to show us our [i]need[/i] of Him. That is a exceedingly important point, I think.

Brothers and sisters, is this reality breaks your heart? Or you are indifferent and get to used to?

Has the Lord departed from most of our meetings? Isn't that the world is crying in desperation, and we are offering entertainment, sport, music, drama, theater, music, program, eating, drinking, good seats, multimedia, and different kind of foolishness and abominations and carnality, but where is the glory of GOD? Where is the power of Yahweh in our midst?

Where is the conviction of sin that we robbed His glory and stolen our lives from Him?

I believe His glory is still present in the meetings of our brothers in some villages, towns... some unknown places... I don't know where else.

But the pride of our once so called 'christian' nations has kicked out His presence from most of the places, and changed it with artificial things! What a shame!

What about the glory of GOD?

Are we praying for the glory of our church, nation, group or His glory?

I read this few weeks ago http://www.awakeningamerica.us/ and broke my heart! The reasons written there for revival, some futures there... I don't think we can mock Him!

Wrong reasons, God is not to be sought for more church attenders to play our games together and to puff our pride more 'we have thousands'! No! We cannot mock Him! He will not allow to use Him, just for our wrong reasons! God is not to be sought for anything else, but just for His face and glory, and He will do whatever He wants and not putting conditions to Him.

Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, [b]except thou repent.[/b]

RobertW wrote:
God shows up in scenerios that have been outlawed or neglected by 98% of the churches.

He is coming to show us our need of Him.

Amen.

[b][u]THE LORD DOES NOT PROSTITUTE HIS PRESENCE AROUND[/b][/u]

As the dear pants for the water, so my soul longs after you” but if we truly longed after God as a starving man longs for food, we would soon have Him. [b]The Lord does not prostitute His presence around, revealing Himself to everyone who wants a cheap thrill.[/b] But that’s what we want Him to do today. Rather then making ourselves ready for the Bridegroom, [n]we want the Lord to come so we can enjoy His presence along with our sins, but [u][b]it will never happen.[/u][/b] The [b]only way[/b] will be if we turn from our sins in humility and seek after the Lord with all our hearts. Hype is no substitute for holiness.

I’m convinced that we have lost our focus and are pouring into methods and techniques [b]deceiving ourselves[/b] that we are helping when we are truly [b]hurting this generation.[/b] There are youth groups that have basket ball courts and video games and yet there isn’t anyone living holy and seeking after the Lord. The justification is “just ask them, they know the scriptures” but do they know the God of the scriptures? Do they live by the Word? If not then their condemnation will be greater then the kids in the world who don’t even know the bible. It would have been better for some of these youth groups not to even know the scriptures at all then to know them and still walk in disobedience towards God.

[b][url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=3821&forum=34]Digged from SI Forum Archive[/url][/b]

Tears_of_joy wrote:
[b][i]Mat 23:38 And now look, your house is left to you, empty and desolate.

Eze 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.[/i][/b]

"You told me THE LIVING GOD IS THERE, but THERE IS NOBODY THERE"

[b]"WHERE IS YOUR GOD?"

Is not that what the people are asking today?