Sermon on 30 May 2021 by Rev Lynette Goh
Colossians 1:27 - “For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.”
We have to know our spiritual position. We are in Christ. Because we are in Christ, Christ is in us. This can only be possible because we are born again. Knowing that Christ is in us, we need to know what He can do through us. We shouldn’t look at our limitations. We look at Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:18 - “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”
His glory grows. His glory in us grows as we behold Him and as we continue in fellowship with Him. We have to know that His glory cannot stagnate or decrease.
Pointers for today:
1. His glory indwells
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 - “The trumpeters and singers performed together in unison to praise and give thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, they raised their voices and praised the Lord with these words: “He is good! His faithful love endures forever!” At that moment a thick cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of God.”
The word glory comes from the Hebrew word, kabod kabod. It means to be weighed down with splendour and majesty. Weighed down with splendour, glory and honour. His glory is substantial. It was seen as a cloud. When everyone was worshipping as one, it was seen as a cloud. We know that His glory is not something airy but weighty.
Exodus 33:18-23 - “Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.” The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” The Lord continued, “Look, stand near me on this rock. As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.””
Glory = goodness, graciousness, compassion. When Moses asked God to show His glory, God showed His goodness, His compassion and graciousness. When we talk about God's glory today, we are talking about His goodness, compassion and graciousness. We are His carriers. Because we are born again, Christ lives in us. His glory is in us.
Hebrews 1:3 - “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.”
Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory. Jesus is the exact copy of God's glory. He lived in us. That’s why in Colossians 1:27, we have the hope of His glory. When we are born again, His glory fills us. The weighty presence of God's goodness is released in us and remains in us.
1 Corinthians 3:16 - “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”
If we are asked this question today, what’s our answer? We are the temple of God. The spirit of God dwells in us so we have to love differently. We have to think differently. The glory of God dwells in us. We carry his glory. Darkness cannot dwell in the same place because His glory dwells in us.
Haggai 2:9 - “The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!””
In this place, He gives peace. We carry the greater glory. Speak to yourself right now. I carry the greater glory. In this place where I carry God's glory, I have peace. What’s this peace? In Hebrew it’s shalom shalom. Double means perfect. There is nothing lacking. There’s wholeness, safety and soundness. See ourselves as carriers of glory. Sometimes when we are overwhelmed by things around us, we can’t even see ourselves as glory carriers. It’s because we aren’t beholding Him. His glory is there but we don’t realise it because our focus is on the outside, not on God. We need to behold.
2. His glory increases
2 Corinthians 3:18 - “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”
As we behold the Lord, we are transformed into the image of Christ who is the image of God. It’s not by our efforts. We behold and that’s our effort and responsibility but the Holy Spirit is doing the work of transformation. When we behold Him like how we behold Him during worship, we are changed. We are slowly being changed, like metamorphosis. We are already a butterfly. We need to see ourselves as God sees us. Instead of going from glory to glory, some people worship and get very excited but during the week they drop to square 1. We cannot live this way. We have to realise that His glory has to flow and increase.
Exodus 34:29-30 - “When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the Lord. So when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses’ face, they were afraid to come near him.”
Exodus 34:33-35 - “When Moses finished speaking with them, he covered his face with a veil. But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the Lord had given him, and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the Lord.”
Why did His face shine? It is because of the glory of God. He has been spending time in God's presence. If we see each other in the spirit, not just after the flesh, your faces are shining with the glory of god. If in the Old Testament, spending time with God can make Moses’ face shine, what more about us when we have Christ in us? Our face would shine even more.
2 Corinthians 3:7-11 - “The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!”
If the glory of the Old Testament was so glorious that Moses was shining, it is more so today. Every week, we are shown the mission of LFC. Through these qualities, you want to preach the word of God. Bringing people into the kingdom of God. This is called the ministry of righteousness. Moses' glory can pass away because the Holy Spirit couldn’t dwell in him all the time. But as people of God now, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God's glory dwells in us.
Habakkuk 2:14 - “For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.”
The knowledge of His glory cannot be contained. It must be increased. The time is now. It is time for us to demonstrate His glory. We cannot stay still. We cannot sit still and not do. We have to let His glory flow.
Isaiah 60:1-2 - ““Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you.”
We need to come out of spiritual depression and arise with His glory. This was a prophetic utterance by Isaiah about the church talking about how the body of Christ should walk in glory.
3. His glory impacts
2 Corinthians 4:6 - “For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.”
The glory of God is His idea. When we obey Him, we will manifest His glory. We display and demonstrate His glory.
Luke 4:18-19 - ““The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come. ””
When you look at the life of Jesus, He carried the glory of God. As He went around to different places, healings took place. Deliverance took place. Demons fled. There was preaching and teaching of the word. These are manifestations of God's glory in Jesus' life.
John 11:40 - “Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?””
The glory was the resurrection of Lazarus. This is the same glory you carry. In each believer, the glory will manifest differently. Some will preach the word, some will reach out to others with love with healing hands. What is your part in it? What is our responsibility? How do we carry His glory? We cannot be bound by the pressures of the world. We cannot be pushed down by people who say things about us. If we are pressed down by all these things, how can we arise and shine?
Acts 5:12-16 - “The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.”
This was because they were bold enough to stand up for God. They refused to bow to the opposition just because they were stopped and persecuted. Greater glory fell on them. We want to walk in the glory of God. We want to grow from glory to glory. We don’t want to just live our lives in a normal way. We are called to be supernatural. It needs to be the new norm, especially in these dark days. The darker the days, the more glorious his light becomes. The darker the days, the more His light is needed.
1 Samuel 5:1-5 - “After the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they took it from the battleground at Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside an idol of Dagon. But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So they took Dagon and put him in his place again. But the next morning the same thing happened—Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of the Lord again. This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod will step on its threshold.”
The ark of God carries the glory of God. The presence of God was in it. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God's presence is in us. When the Philistines took the ark of God, and put it in the wrong place, Dagon cannot stand the glory of God. At first, they thought it was the wind. This demonstrates God's power. When we carry the presence of God, we carry the power of God. Things are going to fall before you which cannot stand in God's presence. We will overcome the enemy. We will be more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. This is naturally supernatural. The ark of God was just there and darkness fell because we carry the presence of God anywhere we go. Many families, because they’re all together working and studying in one place, are undergoing upheaval. But as believers, we can overcome this with the presence of God in our homes, with the glory of God in us. This will be a different upheaval in our lives. In unity, strength is multiplied. We do not need to be pressed down by situations. We need to first look at ourselves as carriers of glory and that His glory grows from strength to strength. There are different expressions of His glory in different believers' lives.
In Peter’s life, he preached differently. Unusual miracles happened. In Phillip’s life, he became an evangelist and the Holy Spirit moved him from place to place. In Ananias’ life, he had a difficult task to baptise Saul in the Holy Spirit. We see that God spoke to Him and He obeyed. He had influence over Saul's life because he initiated that ministry in Paul. In Paul’s life, we see God's glory.
How is He moving in you today? We cannot compare with one another. God's glory manifests itself differently so we don’t envy. We walk in what God has shown us.
4. Keys to carrying His glory
a. Boldness
Acts 4:29-31 - “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.”
God gave them wisdom and wonders followed. They didn’t pray for protection or safety. They were not motivated by pride or promotion. Instead, they were seeking to continue to preach the word of God. That’s how bold they were. It also showed how focused they were.
b. Humility
John 3:30 - “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
It speaks of our dependence on God and how we should be God conscious and not self conscious. We are more concerned about the kingdom of God than our own matters. Our focus is on seeking His kingdom and everything else will be added on to us. As we humbly seek Him, His glory continues to flow through us. We need to give all glory to God then His glory continues to manifest. He must increase, I must decrease.
c. Consecration
Hebrews 12:1 - “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
We need to be set apart. We need to follow the word and not the world. As we follow the word, it will affect how we see others and how we see the things of God. As we seek Him, we are tapping into the glory. We set things aside. We are not drawn into worldly entertainment. We spend time in His presence. When we take time to be in His presence, He speaks. Listen to Him. When the doors open, we walk in and we will know what to do. The realm of glory is where revelations take place. The place of God's glory is where healings take place. When we stay in the realm of glory and tap into His glory, things begin to happen. Breakthroughs will take place. It will be continuous. You continue to consecrate ourselves and hear Him. Don’t go back to square 1. This realm of glory is ever increasing. If it’s compared to a building, it’s like going up in an elevator, from glory to glory. When the elevator door opens, these things are happening for you.
d. Faith and obedience
Hebrews 11:6 - “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”
If you believe, you will obey. In order to receive from the glory of God, you must be obedient. Obey and He will continue to speak to you. Our task is not to seek affirmations. Our task is to obey. Don’t allow the enemy to plant seeds of fear and doubt. Fear and doubt will not produce miracles. When you believe and obey, you will see your miracles. The miracles will be in the lives of others.
Amen.