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Worshiping Biblically is a Very Big Deal

The Battle Against Deception

Right now, as you look across the landscape of not just Christianity, but worldwide world view, the propaganda against the state of Israel is overwhelming. No one said that Israel was going to be perfect, but we're commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And Israel is God's chosen people so that he can reveal his glory through them. It doesn't mean that they're chosen as if they're the teacher's pet. And that's something that people kind of get confused.

I bring that up because deception runs rampant around us right now. There is confusion and deception rolling through our culture at a level that I have never seen before. And keep in mind, for 20 years, my job that I got paid very well to do was to spend three or four hours a day looking into this stuff so I could talk about it on the radio. And I've never seen it like it is today. False teachers are on every corner and behind every click, it seems.

My calling is to feed you the truth in a way to help you break through all that. And that's what today is about.

Biblical Worship: Then and Now

The title of the message today is called the big deal of biblical worship. We're going to look at Moses and some authentic worship he has. And his authentic worship isn't biblical worship. Why? Because there wasn't a Bible then. We have the Bible now. We have the word of God in our hands every day, which means we have an advantage in how God deals with us.

Moses's Difficult Assignment

Moses's Difficult Assignment

Leading a Rebellious People

Moses has been given a very difficult job. If you stop and think about it, this difficult job assignment is directly from the Lord. And his duty was to lead a rebellious, self-centered, stiff-necked people through a desert to the promised land. Now, any good leader will never call out, you know, will never say out loud, "You're a rebellious, stiff necked, selfish people," but that's what these people were. And so, what did Moses have to do to accomplish the job? Moses needed a close relationship with the Lord. How you going to do it otherwise?

The Golden Calf Incident

So now when we come to chapter 33 of Exodus, Moses has just received the law from the Lord. He has gone 40 days and nights while God revealed the law to him. While he was gone, the people made a golden calf, began to worship it as their God, and began to commit grossly immoral sins. So Moses comes down from the mountain, saw what they were doing, and he throws down the tablets containing the law and broke them.

Now, because of their sin and idolatry, the Lord's kind of ticked off. The Lord is angry with the people and he refuses to go with them into Canaan. Look it up in the first three verses of chapter 33 when you get a minute. And so now Moses is responding to that. He responds by reminding the Lord that the Israelites are God's people and that if the Lord doesn't go with them, then Moses, he ain't going. So Moses and the Lord discuss this matter and then that's what we're talking about today. And God says that he will go with them and bring them into the land of promise.

Discouragement and Doubt

Now, I believe that it's very hard for anyone to explain all the things that are happening in this chapter, but what I know for sure is that the Lord is trying to work in the life of Moses and help him grow. When these events occurred, Moses was placed in a position of discouragement and doubt. Ever been there? He needed something from the Lord if he was going to continue to lead Israel. So he asked the Lord for a little encouragement. He asked the Lord to show him his glory. And then God answered Moses's request and revealed his glory to him. And when Moses saw the Lord in all his glory, it resulted in what? It resulted in Moses falling down before the Lord in worship.

The Text: Exodus 33:12-23

Exodus 33:12-23:

Moses said to the Lord, "See, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight. Now, therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people."

And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?"

And the Lord said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken, I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."

Moses said, "Please show me your glory."

And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live."

And the Lord said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock. And when my glory passes by, I will put you in the cliff of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen."

A Lesson for Us Today

Your Calling and Mine

Now, there is a lesson. There is a word for us in this message, in this text. None of us have ever been given an assignment quite like the one Moses received. But we have been called to follow the Lord and to represent him in this world. If you are saved, that's the deal.

Each one of us who are soundly saved—and that's key. If you're walking around claiming you're a Christian because you said some little prayer, but you don't really know Jesus, this doesn't apply to you. But the rest of us who are soundly saved, while we were sinners, Jesus came and changed us, filled us with the Holy Spirit, and the evidence of that is a changed life. Each one of us who actually belong to Jesus, we will have a calling and a purpose. And our calling and our assigned tasks are like snowflakes. No two are alike.

When Discouragement Comes

There are times when this assignment becomes difficult and discouraging. I was having lunch with an elder yesterday and we—I was just talking about how much he serves this church and how sometimes it gets discouraging. But twice in my three years here, I've seen him pick himself up and just put his blinders on and say, "I'm serving the Lord." It's a huge encouragement. You all are doing some of that, too. I talked to a lot of you. Many of you I meet with in my office or we talk on the phone or I come to your house and I've seen you come out of that difficulty and come out of that discouragement and every time that it's authentic, it's because you are worshiping Jesus out of good old-fashioned gratitude because he saved you while you were yet a sinner.

What We Need From the Lord

So when those times come, each one of us will need something from the Lord. We'll need something that we cannot produce by ourselves. We cannot come up with some therapy that's going to actually save the day. There are things in the saved believer's life when they are serving Jesus Christ, when they get discouraged that only the spirit of the Lord can change in our lives.

And when you want to hear God speak to you, you read his word. You want to hear him speak to you out loud, read it out loud. The Bible will bring you stuff that you need. Your prayer life will bring you some stuff you need. But it'll be God intervening. We need something that will then bring us to our knees in worship.

What Moses Discovered About Worship

Worship Changes Everything

So this encounter with the Lord. Moses discovered the big deal of authentic worship. And since the Bible is our authentic, that is why the title today is what it is. Moses learned that worshiping God has the ability to confirm everything and to comfort and to heal the heart of the humble saint, to help gain clarity for the confused saint, to wake up the saint who is stumbling in a weird mix of biblical truth in pursuit of their own significance. That's an American problem right now big time. You have some biblical truth, but you still want yours, too.

Protection From Deception

See, these words from the scripture and the points that I'm going to help make today will help the believer who is dancing around and through a mountain of deception that is all around us. None of us are immune. We all have to protect ourselves. If somebody dropped some tear gas in this room right now and those of us that had a mask on, we'd be okay. That was one of the things they made us do in basic training in the military is walk into a gas chamber with your mask on, take the mask off, and you had to say your name and your social security number, and when you said it, then you could run out the other side. Deception is like that. And the word of God and your walk with Christ in an authentic way is that gas mask over your face to protect you from the deception that's coming for you through your scrolling, through your clicking, through all the stuff that's happening in your life.

Three Points Today

So, I want to take this episode from the life of Moses and I'm going to speak to you about the big deal of biblical worship and I'm going to tell you what the three points are right now: the bold request of Moses, the balanced response of God, and the awesome results of both.

The Parachute Story: Understanding What Really Matters

I don't have this story in my notes and I've told it before and I'll tell it again. I just feel like telling it. If you get this, you'll get everything. Okay, this comes from Ray Comfort Living Waters Ministry. And when I heard this for the first time, it changed my life because I would dance around wanting all of these other things that I thought God was offering. When I realized it's salvation and Jesus as my substitute and the Bible as my final authority, sola scriptura, and it meant everything. Here's how the story goes.

Two Passengers, Two Parachutes

Picture an airplane and the whole cabin only has two people in it. One sitting towards the front, one sitting towards the back. Each one of these people has their own, dare I say, stewardess flight attendant. That's how old the story is. And each one has a parachute in their hand. And they go to the passenger in the back and she hands him the parachute. And she says, "We want you to put this on. It'll improve your flight." And so the passenger puts it on.

The other flight attendant goes to the other passenger and says, hands him a parachute and says, "Put this on. The pilot just said that there's a possible fire in engine number two. And we don't know whether it's 5 minutes or 20 minutes from now, but he is going to tell us we have to jump."

Okay. So, the one in the back, the tray, he can't get his tray table down. It's uncomfortable. The parachute's there and he's like, "This is, you know," he tries to eat his sandwich, and he's dropping stuff on the floor and he's bending over trying to pick it up. This parachute was supposed to improve my flight. So, he takes off the parachute and throws it down.

What's the other person doing? The other person knows the jump is to come and is holding on to that parachute as if it's the dearest thing he's ever had in his whole life.

The American Walk With Christ

And that, my friends, is the American walk with Christ. If you put Jesus on to improve your flight, if you think that he has come to try to make you a better homemaker, a better salesman, give you a better jump shot, you're missing the point. The point is that there is a jump to come.

The Deception of Date Setting

We have been dealing with people setting dates for the rapture and it's starting to become mainstream and it is deception. There's one of my favorite people that attend here. Him and I go back and forth on this all the time. And I find it fascinating to look at, but I know that we're not supposed to set dates. And now all these dates are wrong. And what's happened? People have their heart and mind on the dates. And now they're starting to reject Jesus because those dates have come and gone.

The Jump Can Come at Any Moment

The jump to come can happen for any of us at any given moment. You realize that from Chicago to Denver, on average, one person dies on the I-80 every day. Statistically, the person who died last night wasn't planning on dying. God raptured that person, didn't he? If all a sudden I have a grabber and fall over and I'm gone, I was raptured in that moment. Now, I'm asking God not to have that happen because I don't want to leave my wife alone. She's a handful. So, I want to stick around and take care of that. And the biblical rapture means we both get to go. And that's what I'm hoping for.

But we hold on tight to Jesus for the jump to come. That is the desire that should fill our hearts. And I pray the Lord will increase our love for him so that we'll be drawn to know him better. And a better solid biblical understanding and knowledge of the Lord will always result in deeper, more pure worship.

Eliminating the Peripheral

During this modern time of great deception, we need to be eliminating the peripheral. Doing that is of great importance to your walk. I'm talking about the add-ons, the leaps people take with doctrine, the cherry-picking of verses to justify falsehoods and heresy, many times to give that person or that denomination some sort of juice above and beyond simple faith, beyond contentment with godliness is great gain, beyond "my grace is sufficient for you." Follow.

You want to pray in the spirit? You want to know what that really is authentically, biblically? When you pray in the spirit, you're praying by faith. That's what the Bible teaches. Without faith you can't please the Lord.

POINT ONE: The Bold Request of Moses

Moses's Divine Calling

Let's notice these truths together. Point number one is the bold request. The bold request of Moses. In Exodus 3:10, Moses was divinely called to the task of leading the people of God to Canaan. Now, this is no easy task. His leadership is often called into question. His orders were disobeyed. Moses had a duty that required faithfulness and dependability. And yet he had the task of walking in obedience to the Lord and his will while the people are chaos all around him.

Moses in His Discouragement

So now you get to the first part of chapter 33, verses 1-3. And we see Moses and his discouragement just right there. The people had rebelled against the Lord in chapter 32. And as a result, the Lord wanted to destroy them at worst and remove his presence from them at best. Look, they were in trouble regardless of how this one's going to turn out. Can you imagine how Moses must have felt in that moment? He has done his best to lead them and to follow the Lord's will. And still all they did was complain, find fault, belly ache, and sin against the Lord. There must have been times, many times when Moses wanted to throw in the towel and quit.

Moses and His Desire

In verse 18, we get to see Moses and his desire on full display. Moses had a heart to know and experience God in a deeper, more profound way. Moses knew that the nation of Israel could not meet his need. No matter how good his leadership, no matter how good Israel rolled, it was not going to meet the need that was burning inside Moses. And Moses seemed to know that the best cure for discouragement, disillusionment, and dryness is a fresh glimpse of who God is and what he's all about.

And we need to see this. Why? Because we need to stay fresh. Dare I say, continue to have fresh encounters with God today and every day. Look at me. You know, look with me at Moses. Just look at Moses and watch him pursue a fresh encounter with God.

Four Areas Where He Desires to Know God Better

Moses mentions four areas where he desires to know God better. Let's look at them.

First, he wants to know God better in his ways. Moses wants to better understand the way God operates so that he might serve him better. That's a desire of the heart that comes from being saved, by the way.

Number two, his person. In verse 13, Moses wants to better understand the person of God so that he might enjoy a deeper fellowship with him.

Number three, in verse 15, Moses wants a clear manifestation of God's presence so that he might follow God better. This is a plea for leadership.

And then fourthly, his glory. In verse 18, Moses wants to see the glory of God so that he will be moved to a deeper personal relationship and a deeper worship life.

See, Moses is compelled to seek these things, to seek that fuller revelation of the Lord because he wanted and had a deep love for the Lord and he wanted that to go deeper. Make sense? He was also drawn to know God better so that he might love God more intensely. Do you ever have that desire? Do you want to love God more intensely, but your flesh nature keeps getting in the way? You're not alone.

Seeking Inspiration, Not Just Information

See, Moses was not merely seeking information. Moses is not just seeking information. He was seeking inspiration. Also please see and understand today Moses was not looking for extra juice for his testimony. He was not looking for, you know, better things to fulfill his calling in a way that would be more demonstrative. This is the same desire that is expressed by the apostle Paul.

The apostle Paul in Philippians 3:10-11, let's look at it. He says, "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings becoming like him in death. Verse 11, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

Why I'm Here

I'm here at Fresh Encounter because I believe this is a place where we can quit playing games. That we could get down to the authentic biblical truth. And that's why I came here three and a half years ago. And that's why I plan on being here till God calls me home. I love it here. And the reason I love it here is because we have people in our midst that love Jesus. And they love him because they're looking forward to the day he's going to call them home.

Moses's desire for his request was to better his walk out with the Lord. Moses possesses such a desire to know God at such a deep level. Think about it for a minute. The more he walked with God, the more his desire grew. Moses had been blessed by the Lord and the blessings of God demonstrated themselves in a desire to know God better and to worship God more deeply.

Three Reasons Moses Had a Heart Filled With Worship

Let's take a minute. I'll just give you three of them here.

1. Moses Had Been Chosen

First, Moses had been chosen. Moses was minding his own business keeping Jethro's sheep when the Lord called him out of that burning bush in Exodus chapter 3. And God took the first step in his relationship with Moses. An old school scholar I was reading this week said this: "The movement of a soul towards God is but the effect of the movement of God towards that soul." Everyone, all of us, each and every one of us who worships God is someone who was first chosen and called by God.

2. Moses Had Been Converted

Next, Moses had been converted. Moses had been converted. He had experienced the blessing of the Passover in Exodus 12. Moses knew what it meant to be washed in the blood of the lamb. He had been redeemed out of Egypt, and he was thankful. He also learned in that situation that God was as good as his word. There are reasons for worship that we now share with Moses. The blood of the lamb of God has given us salvation, safety, and eternal security. His word gives us absolute confidence that he will do all that he has promised. Thinking deeply about your redemption will make you want to worship.

3. Moses Had Been in Fellowship

Lastly, Moses had been in fellowship. Moses enjoyed a walk of the deepest intimacy with the Lord. This closeness with God distinguished Moses from every other person living in his day. You know, think about it now. Moses's closeness was even carried over into death. Deuteronomy 34, if you get a minute, how about 1500 years after his death? Yeah, still happening. He shows up in the transfiguration with Jesus in Matthew 17, Luke 9, and Mark 9.

Please see this closeness to the Lord caused him to want to worship God deeper. And the more time you spend with the Lord, the more you come to love him. And the more you come to love him, the more you are drawn to worship him. And when that happens, keep your eye open for God's balanced response.

POINT TWO: The Balanced Response of God

God Makes a Promise

That's point number two, the balanced response. The balanced response of God. In verses 19 and 20, God makes a promise. God tells Moses that he will grant his request. He will allow Moses to catch a small glimpse of his glory as he passed by. Why did God do this? Well, the answer lies in verse 17. Moses had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, Moses hadn't earned this experience. It was the sovereign choice of almighty God.

Everything Comes From Grace

We need to understand that anything we have ever received from God—from salvation to the smallest of his blessings—have not been given to us because we earned them. In Isaiah it says the very best we can do, our best righteousness is as filthy rags before a holy God. Understand who we are. We have not been given anything because we forced the hand of God. People in our society have been conned into thinking their magic words will unleash the genie that they have created God to be in their own minds.

Listen now. What I'm about to tell you is the testimony of the whole of scripture. You ready? Anything we ever receive from the Lord is the work of his grace in our life. Anything we've ever received from the Lord is his grace in our life. Just the fact he allows us to pray to him, to worship him, to fellowship with him is amazing. I thank God for the time he condescends to allow us to love, serve, and worship him.

God Mentions a Place

Then in verses 21-23, God mentions a place. God tells Moses that there is a place by him where Moses can stand and see the glory of God as it passes by. That place is a cleft in the rock. Do you know that this applies to us as well? Have you ever thought about it? There is still a place by him. There is still a cleft in the rock and his name is Jesus. There is only one place where man will see God and that place is in Jesus Christ. He is the rock that we get protection in.

Jesus Is the Rock

Let me give you some verses. 1 Corinthians 10:4 says, "And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ."

If we would see the father, we need to look no further than the son. Notice what the Bible says about Jesus in John 14:9: "Jesus said to him, 'I have been with you so long and you still don't know me, Philip. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father?"'"

John 1:18 says, "No one has ever seen God. God the only son who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."

And let's just spike the football with one more verse. Hebrews 1:3: "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the words of his power. And after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high."

The Story Behind "Rock of Ages"

The song Rock of Ages was written by Augustus Toplady. After he had been trapped outdoors in a fierce storm, knowing a large rock with a cleft in it, he ran there for shelter. And as he entered that fissure of the rock, the storm broke upon it with all of its fury. Lightning flashed, thunder boomed, and the rains fell in a torrential downpour. And Toplady in his shelter was totally untouched. The storm poured out its fury upon the rock, but he was safe because he was in the rock.

That same privilege is ours in Jesus. That's what this is all about that we come to on Sundays. See, when Jesus was on the cross, the mighty wrath of God unleashed itself upon him. When we are in him, we are sheltered from the wrath of God and from the awful penalty of sin. That, my brothers and sisters, is a cause for worship. That's the parachute in the jump to come.

God Displayed His Dominance and Demonstrated His Presence

And if you look a little further in Exodus chapter 34, you will see that God displayed his dominance and demonstrated his presence. His presence just dominates everything. God did exactly as he promised and allowed Moses to actually see his glory. Wow. God passed by declaring his name and revealing his glory.

Let's look at verses 5 and 6 of chapter 34. Let's look at it together. Exodus 34:5-6: "The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.'"

Is that incredible or what? What I don't want you to miss is look at verse 5 where it says the Lord stood there with him. Verse 6 says the Lord passed before him. Here is Moses standing on the rock, surrounded by the rock, in the presence of the Lord, shielded by the hand of God, and seeing the glory of God all at the same time. Can you imagine seeing the glory of God up close and personal? Moses did and it changed his life.

When God Shows Up

And every now and then we get a small dose of that manifest presence of God. Sometimes it comes in unique and astounding ways. But many, many, many—did I mention many—times it comes in simple and profound ways. The Lord will come in and demonstrate his glory to his people.

Now, I've been in places where God showed up in mighty ways. God has shown up in ways that defy what my limited human understanding can be. Can you begin to imagine if that was like the rule and not the exception? See, when God shows up in unusual and powerful ways, you will know it because it will hit you deep inside your soul. I'm talking about that deep soul where the stone cold truth lives and you know it. Follow.

What a Real Move of God Looks Like

And when this happens, no one is laughing uncontrollably. No one is speaking in gibberish that is indiscernible. That is not the manifest power of the spirit. That is a counterfeit from the enemy. What I'm saying is that when a genuine move of God takes place in our presence, we will become lost in the glory that is Jesus, the one who hung on the cross as our substitute. And he will be our focus. And he will be the center of everything we do and say. And everything will center around his word. It'll center around sharing the gospel. Why? Because we can't help it. And the love for others will accelerate in our heart. That's the true move of the spirit of God. The soul-saving powerful spirit of the most high God. And I've about had it with people reducing it down to mumbo jumbo.

POINT THREE: The Awesome Results

Moses Was Never the Same

Last point today, the awesome results. The awesome results. So after this mountaintop experience, what happened to Moses? He was never the same. No one can come face to face with the Lord and remain the same. That's why the evidence of the spirit living in you is a changed life. Nothing more. Praying in the spirit is praying by faith. Nothing more. And there will always be some sign that you have been with God. There will always be a sign that you've been with God. It'll be there.

Examples of Changed Lives

Remember Jacob at Peniel in Genesis 32? After his encounter with God, he limped on his thigh. How about Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul, was forever changed by his meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 9. Even every one of the Lord's disciples were marked men by having spent time with the Lord. There were some changes in Moses's life as well.

Notice as we bring it home today what seeing God will actually do for you. I also want you to notice there were benefits in God's direction as well. Moses was blessed by this powerful experience, but God benefited as well. What do I mean by that? See, because Moses was strengthened in his walk with the Lord, God received worship. And Moses became a better servant for the glory of God.

Result #1: It Produces Humility

In Moses, one of the things it produces, as it will in you, is humility. When we see the Lord as he is, we cannot help but see ourselves as we are. Many have very, very warped views of themselves. We think we are much better and much more holy than we really are. A good glimpse of God will change all of that and it'll produce humility in our lives. And when we get humble, then the Lord can actually use us for his glory.

James 4:10 says this: "Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up."

Look no further than chapter 34 of Exodus verse 29. Moses was the only fellow in camp who did not know that his face glowed with the glory of the Lord. What a lesson. What a lesson. Those who think they've arrived in holiness, humility, and power with the Lord usually haven't. One of my stand-up comedy routines, I would talk about trying to be humble and then I would say, you know, my humility is part of my greatness. See how stupid that is? You see how ridiculous we can be? If you think that you have arrived in holiness, humility, and power with the Lord, you usually haven't.

We have a flesh nature. We get filled with the spirit and we leak. So, we go back to God's word every day in keeping with repentance. We serve the Lord and a joy just builds and builds and builds and we know that the holiness and the love for others that is real, that's there, comes from him. We know when we get to heaven that it's nothing that we did to earn ourselves. Which is why all of us authentic believers, when we get our crowns, we're going to throw them at Jesus's feet because he's the one who gave it all to us while we were yet sinners.

It is those people who know they are nothing and they know that he is everything. These are the ones who are truly the people of the redeemer king. I hope you remember that as you see the deception on the next click or the next scroll.

Result #2: The Production of Real Worship

So what happens next? What happens next in the journey of Moses and what happens next in our journey? Well, the production of real worship should happen. When Moses saw the Lord as he really was, it caused Moses to fall down before him and honor the Lord. That's in 34:8.

Notice something. Notice this. Moses did not shout, sing, or testify. When Moses saw the Lord in his glory, he responded by lowering himself. He responded by simply adoring the Lord. Have you ever sat down, no one's around, it's just you in the word of God and maybe in your prayer time, and you're just astounded? Lord, you're so awesome and you have saved me and I don't deserve it.

What Real Worship Is

See, it's never about singing, testifying, praying, or preaching. These things may be involved in worship but just because one or more of these things takes place in a service does not mean that real worship has occurred. Follow. Genuine worship involves the heart above all. In genuine worship there is a desire to exalt the Lord. A desire for him to receive the glory he is worthy of actually receiving. And when we see him in his glory our worship will change. It'll change on an individual level and on a public level. When we see Jesus in his glory, our worship will be about Jesus and nothing more. Get rid of all the peripherals. Walk the narrow path. Ever heard that before? It'll become that which the Lord desires it to be.

John 4:24 says this, my last scripture of the day, and we're bringing it home: "God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

It won't be about us in our fleshly displays. Why? Because it can't be about us in any way, shape, or form and still be authentic. It'll always be about the Lord God Almighty and him alone. Always.

Result #3: This Will Produce an Outward Change

This will produce an outward change in us. The evidence of spending time with the Lord was all over Moses in these verses of chapter 33 and 34. It indicates Moses was never the same. When Jesus has touched some lives, they are never the same. When he touched my life and healed me, I have not been the same. You know, it could be that Moses's face actually glowed until his death.

See the glory glow on his face was a testimony to the rest of the nation Israel that spending time with God makes a difference. And the same is true in our lives. When we walk with the Lord in the inner parts of our heart, there will be evidence on the outside that we are walking with him. Will we stumble? Will we fall? Will we burn our Christian testimony because somebody cut us off in traffic? Of course. Our face may not glow, but our walk, our talk, our lives will bear witness to the fact that we are walking with the Lord in his power and presence. And in daily keeping with repentance, we serve the Lord.

Why? Because spending time with the Lord will produce a special relationship with God.

Result #4: A Special Relationship With God

There is a closeness between the Lord and Moses that could not have existed otherwise. So it is with you and me. When we walk in genuine fellowship with the Lord, there is a special relationship that develops. It does not mean that he loves one more than another, but it does mean that he reveals himself more to those who are walking in closeness with him.

How about some examples? First, he will use you more wonderfully for his glory. Now, side note on that, more wonderfully doesn't mean bigger and better. We need to quit American dreaming the way God may use us for his glory. Next, he will speak more directly through his word. He will demonstrate his presence more often in your heart. Just those things alone make walking with the Lord worthwhile.

One Truth. One Thing.

There's so much in this passage, but it all comes down to one truth. It comes down to one thing. You ready?

Moses was brought to a place of elevated worship and that worship changed his life forever.

Moses was brought to a place of elevated worship and that worship changed his life forever. And it was authentic. It wasn't conjured up.

Questions for You

So, let me ask you a question. Do you have any reasons in your life to worship the Lord? If you do, are you giving him the worship he deserves? If you don't, would you like to come to him today and be saved? Who among us today has a heart like Moses? Who among us has that overwhelming desire to see the glory of God and get lost in his worship? If that describes you, I challenge you to get before him now and ask him to demonstrate and make plain his glory to you.

The worship of God is a significant matter. It literally has the power to change our lives.