Presence is Pleasurable

Good morning church. How you guys doing today? Stand to your feet. Let's worship Jesus. Are you ready to be thankful to God? Here we go. Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. All my life you've been right here by my side. God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. Come on. Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. All my life you've been right here by my side. God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. All my life you've been right here by my side. God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. Yeah. Let's bring this up a little bit. Hands up. I want to hear you give the best you've got. If you're thankful to God, lift up your voice and say, lift up your hand. I'm lifting both of my hands. You gave me chance after chance after chance. I'm giving all that I am. You gave me chance after chance after chance. I'm lifting both of my hands. You gave me chance after chance after chance. I'm giving all that I am. You gave me chance after chance after chance. Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. All my life you've been right here by my side. God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. All my life you've been right here by my side. God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. And I'm so glad that I'm here. God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. I'm alright if they say I'm out of my mind. God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. God I'm just grateful for you. The Lord is my shepherd, and He is everything I need, so I will not worry, I will not fear He said that He loves me, He said that He's with me even though I walk through the valley of shadow and death and still I know He has good plans, He has good plans for me So I will take all the deserts and waters, He has good plans, He has good plans for me If I know my Father, I know my Father has a good place, no heaven formed against me will prosper The Lord is my Savior, so why should I doubt my danger? Why would I question the light in the sky that covers me? He quiets the waters, He quiets the storm inside of me, so what could be better than walking with Him when I believe He has good plans, He has good plans for me So I will take all the deserts and waters, He has good plans, He has good plans for me If I know my Father, I know my Father has a good place, He has good plans for me So I will take all the deserts and waters, He has good plans, He has good plans for me If I know my Father, I know my Father has a good place, He has good plans for me Surely Your goodness and mercy will follow after me So fear well, not find me, cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God Surely Your goodness and mercy will follow after me So fear well, not find me, cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God Surely Your goodness and mercy will follow after me So fear well, not find me, cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God Surely Your goodness and mercy will follow after me

So fear well, not find me, cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God He has good plans, He has good plans for me So I will take all the deserts and waters, He has good plans, He has good plans for me If I know my Father, I know my Father has a good place, He has good plans for me If I know my Father, I know my Father at the end of the day. Let's give a shout of praise. How many people in this room are grateful for Jesus Christ? Come on. Give Him praise. I don't know about y'all worship team, but I'm just grateful for you. Man, come on, dude. Gosh, I was so hyped down here. Some of y'all are probably like, what's that weird dude doing up there? I was so hyped. But man, God has great, incredible plans for each one of your lives today. And I'm so grateful. You guys can take a seat. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for your presence here this morning. Hey, if you're a new visitor with us, if this is your first time at Revolution Church, you've stumbled into the best church in the world. I'm biased, but I love this place. I love what God's doing here. Did you guys know that God is on the move? Everybody say that with me. God is on the move. And I really believe, man, that if you've come in here for the first time, you have found your church home. God led you here today, and I can't wait for you to hear Pastor Pacer's message. It's incredible.

So real quick, I wanted to talk about this is our time of the service where we do our giving. This is also a weird time for a lot of people because I'm talking about money. But here's the deal. The Lord wants every part of your life today. And I want to share something with you. Matthew 23, verse 23, says this. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill, and cumin, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. I want to say that again. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. This is the words of Jesus. This is a direct quote of what he said. And here's what I want to tell you today. Jesus tells us in that moment, basically what he's saying is these Pharisees, they were great at tithing, but they didn't do the things like mercy, justice, you know, these other things. You know what's crazy? As we talk about love all the time, it's like we've flipped it. We don't ever talk about tithing, we don't ever talk about money. And here's the reality. A couple weeks ago, we had somebody come up on this stage that accepted Jesus. He got out from underneath a bridge. He was homeless, had nowhere to go. He was in prison. Come on, somebody. And because of a tablet that you guys bought with money, okay, he was able to find Jesus. And now he's got a wife, come on, and a kid, and he owns his own business.

What? It's wild, man. Let's give God some praise. So I just want to encourage you today, the Lord does not need your money. He doesn't need your money, he doesn't need your cash. This is about your heart and your position with God. God wants every piece of you, not a part of you. So we have several ways to give today. We have buckets in the back, we don't pass the plate. We have things on the back, they're little tap tags that you can tap your phone, you can go online on our app to give. But here's what I want to encourage you to do. Ask God what he would have you give today. Because some of you tithe, but maybe he's calling you to give a gift today. You know, that's over and above our tithe. And there's always a reason why God calls us to do that. So whoever you are today, I want you to know this. This portion of the service, this is our worship to God. Where we get to say, you know what, I hold tight to money, but it's not tighter than I hold to you. Right? So let's pray real quick, and then I've got one more thing. Let's pray over these offers. Heavenly Father God, we worship you right now with our gifts, with our offerings. God, we give over our money and our finances to you. Lord, we give over our money and our finances to the things that don't bring life all the time. But God, today we give it over to you. And we say, I trust you. Lord, thank you so much for the ability to give. Thank you for all of the lives that have been changed as a result of giving.

And we give you all the glory, all the honor, all the credit in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. So real quick, and then I'm going to be quiet. Grant, Pastor Grant, come on up here, buddy. Come on up here, Mark Quill. Pastor Mark Quill, if you're in here, there you are. Come on up here. The whole fam bam, let's go. All right, so many of you guys know that Pastor Grant has been called to Florida to be a youth pastor at Christ Fellowship Church. And honestly, I'm super excited for you, dude. I'm super excited for what God's doing. Because any time that God is moving somebody out, it means that he's moving on purpose. It's not accident. It's not weird. Who knows? You could be like me, right? You could leave and then come back. I mean, anything's possible. But you know what? More than anything, I am just so expectant to see what God does through y'all's faithfulness and your obedience. There's something waiting for these guys in Florida. And it's something that he's not just sending you. He's sending the whole family to minister to those who need it, to preach Jesus to the lost, and to transform lives. And we get the opportunity. See, when you produce so much fruit as a church, some of that fruit has to fall off the vine. And because of that, we're sending Grant and his family out and sending them. And I am just so grateful for this opportunity. Pastor Marquel has worked directly with this family. I know you guys love Pastor Marquel. And I just want to honor Pastor Marquel for a second, for all of his years of service.

I really believe that God has set you guys up for a great time in the Lord. And this is going to be a season you'll never forget. Amen. Pastor Pacer, would you come up? We're going to say a quick prayer over these guys. And what I'd like to do is for everybody to stand up in here, point your hand this way. We're going to commission this family. We're going to ask for God to bless them and to bless them indeed. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father God, we just commission the Redmonds right now. Lord, we know that you have great things in store. Lord, I pray that every time they doubt what you've said, Lord God, that you reassure them at every corner. God, I pray that they get to see the incredible works of your hand, Lord. From the minute that they hit the road, they feel your presence, Lord. God, I pray an extra portion blessing over them. God, as you continue to bless their ministry, Lord Jesus, I pray that you send all of them, not one of them. God, I pray that you give all of them opportunities to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray they make an impact to this community they're going to. God, I pray that when people see them, they feel your presence, Lord God. Lord, I pray that all of the years that he spent up to this moment, Lord, that you would release all that obedience right now over their lives. God, we give you the glory, the honor, and the credit for everything you're about to do through them. And we are sending them to the next thing. In Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Good morning, Revolution Church. Welcome. I'm Amanda and this is Amy. We're so excited to have you here today. We have so much going on.

If you miss anything, scan the QR code or you can look at the website and get information. Yeah, we do have a lot going on. Tennessee Kids is going to be here on September 3rd at 6 p.m. in the pavilion for a FAM interest panel. We are so excited for that. For more information, you can visit our website. And also in the pavilion, the men will be meeting this Saturday at 2 o'clock. So if you're a man and you're interested in that, definitely get involved. It'll be great. Church, we are so glad you're here with us today. If you need prayer, our prayer team would love to pray with you at the end of the service. We hope you enjoy the message. Well, good morning. How's everybody doing today? Man, is it not good to be in the house of the Lord? Amen. Man, I love the worship today. I love it every weekend, but wow, today was special. Appreciate our worship. Can we just give our worship team a hand clap of appreciation? Man, they come in prepared, ready to go, anointed, leading us into the presence of the Lord. Well, again, welcome to Revolution Church. Let's give it up for all of our first-time guests. I've already met several of them. Come on. Thank you for being here today. Make sure you fill out a Connect card. You can grab one in the seat back in front of you. Drop it in the bucket or see one of the greeters out front. We'd love to know you're here. I'll tell you what. I'm going to give you 30 seconds to meet three people that you don't know.

Someone right around you. Come on. Spend the next 30 seconds. Introduce yourself. Give them your name. I want to welcome everyone who's watching online. Thank you guys so much for joining us today. It truly is special that you would choose to spend your time watching us. I pray, God, this service today would be a blessing to you, that the Lord would speak through the message directly to your heart. Also, I'd love it if you would consider sharing the link because every weekend we're having people new come to the Lord, and it's happening online. And that could very well be because you're sharing the link. But thank you so much for that. God bless every single one of you. A lot of exciting things going on around here. Well, today is week three in this sermon series called No Empty Seats. And last weekend, Pastor Chris did a great job bringing them in. Come on. Let's give it up. Pastor Chris is doing an incredible job. Good, great message. As a matter of fact, he had so many points that I wasn't able to take notes of all of them. But our life group, we really enjoyed talking about a couple of those key points. And one of them that really stood out to me was when he talked about the man who was born blind. He discussed how that, you know, there was a question the disciples asked Jesus, and they said, who sinned, this man or his parents? And I like the fact that you dwelt there for a second because we know Jesus said, neither

sinned. This was done so God's works would be manifested. Then Pastor Chris followed it up with a question, and I like this. The question was this, what imperfection do you have that God wants to use to bring glory? Amen? What imperfection do you have? So that really, you know, touched me because we know that it's in our weakness that God is made what? Help me. Strong. That God's made strong. It's through our weaknesses. So today, week three, the title of the message is Presence is Pleasurable. I want to say that again. Presence is Pleasurable. I want you to say that quickly three times. Real fast. Come on, say it. We need a translator or interpretation or something. That's a tongue twister. Psalm 1611. Let's take a look at this verse today. Psalm 1611 says, you reveal the path of life to me. In your presence is abundant joy. In your right hand are eternal pleasures. So right here we see that in the presence of the Lord is abundant joy and eternal pleasures. I want to say that everything that you need in life to fulfill you is found in the Lord's presence. Can I hear an amen if you believe that today? Amen.

Found in the Lord's presence. You know, this morning, early this morning when Connie and I were driving in to church, we were coming through the mountains and it was, there was dew. There was a heavy dew early this morning to the point to where it was like water on our windshield. And Connie and I were discussing. It's like, is it supposed to rain today? And it really, it wasn't rain, but it was the, it was the dew. And so that just reminded me of my message today. We're talking about the presence of the Lord. And I was thinking about God's presence. You know, in Psalm 133, the Bible tells us that we're brethren, brothers and sisters dwell together in unity, that God will command his blessing. He said, it'll be like the, check this out. He said, it'll be like the oil that run down Aaron's beard. Also like the dew that came down from Mount Hermon. So I was thinking about that dew and thinking about the presence of the Lord. How many of you guys appreciate God's presence today? Amen. We, we live in a beautiful area that just declares God's glory. The mountains, the rivers, the streams. But when we talk about it. The presence of the Lord the first time you're going to find it in the Bible is found in Genesis chapter 3 Genesis chapter 3 verse 8 I want to go ahead and look at this verse the Bible says and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden Adam and Eve had had sinned and For the very first time in the Bible, we're going to see human shame and alienation from God's presence First time we see it we see shame and we see them hiding from God

sin creates This immediate urge to hide you ever notice that when you sin I know we don't have anybody in here that sinned. We don't have any sinners in the house today So you probably can't relate but it always creates an urge to hide to cover it up Don't want no one to see it specifically God But I wanted you to notice here. Have you ever noticed in this verse? It said they hid among the trees Think about that for a second put that back up that verse if you if you would for have you ever noticed that? We we put all of our emphasis on the fact they had sinned and they're hiding from from God But where were they hiding at they were hiding among the trees? This is an important detail and it leads to point number one today point number one Jesus didn't hide among the trees, but he exposed sin openly on a tree. Can I hear an amen? Jesus didn't hide behind the cross He didn't hide but what Jesus actually did was he took on our sin The Bible tells us that Jesus became sin when he took us in on himself on the cross. Look at first Peter 2 24 Who himself bore our sins in his own body? We're at On the tree didn't say the cross Even though it was a cross But specifically he bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sins How many of you realize you've died to sins? Might live righteousness By whose stripes you were healed. Can I hear an amen if you're glad for that glad for the sacrifice that Jesus made? So again, it says that Jesus became sin openly. He didn't have to hide He took our sin and openly on the cross. It was exposed and it was forgiven But when we look at the natural response to sin, it is to cover it up or it's to hide it Now this is a pattern that we find throughout the Bible as a matter of fact go all the way back to Moses You guys remember Moses when he killed the Egyptian? What did he do with that Egyptian? You remember? Yeah, he he dug a hole and he buried him thinking that no one had seen him But here's the thing about it seeing God always knows. Amen. Look over to your neighbor and say God knows God God knows and God knew and and other people saw that Moses had killed the Egyptian King David another one King David sees Bathsheba

Bathing on the rooftop. He sees her he sins for her and then he sinned Her husband's out on the battlefield fighting and so as a result of this sin, she becomes pregnant David now, what is he going to do? He needs to cover up his sin, right? Hide his sin It's it's the natural response. So he calls her husband in to try to cover it up. That didn't work He ended up committing murder Thought that everything's covered up No one knows but it was exposed God knew and also his friend knew another person that we see in the Bible another is aching The first battle that happened after Joshua crossed the Jordan River He faces the Battle of Jericho now God gave some specific instructions for Jericho Jericho's a stronghold It wasn't very large, but they were well entrenched in that region They had this massive wall around their building. They were fully self-contained. They had water they had food They could outlast the enemy. So what they did when Joshua and Israel crossed over They God gives them specific instructions and says this when you defeat when I defeat Jericho when I bring the walls down Nothing in that city is yours. It's all mine. It's the first fruits It was symbolic of the first fruits the first roots which you talked about today is God's it's not even mine And so God tells Israel don't touch any of the silver or the gold or any of that But they go in they destroy God destroys Jericho And there's one man by the name of Achan. Achan couldn't resist the temptation. He saw the silver. He saw the gold. He saw the royal robes that was probably highly valuable. And no one's watching, it appears. So what does he do? He steals that, brings it into his tent, and now he's hiding it. Again, it's the natural response. Digs a hole, covers it up, it's hidden, and everything's good. He'll bring it out later on in life. But God saw it. As a result of that sin, the Bible tells us that Israel goes to fight the next battle.

It was Ai. Ai, and Israel goes up to fight him. It's a small group. They didn't even send all the soldiers. They said, this will be a piece of cake, no problem. They didn't even send all the soldiers. But as a result of sin being in the camp, Ai kicked Israel's tail. And now Joshua is concerned. Like, God, why would you allow us to be defeated? You brought us here to the promised land to allow us to be defeated. And God revealed to Joshua that there was hidden sin. And so they found out it was taken care of. But again, it's the natural response to sin is to hide it. Now, when we look back in the garden, we see that Adam and Eve ate from the tree, and it produced what? Death, right? Separation and death. But now Jesus hung on a tree, and it produced life. And I am very grateful for that today. Amen? Jesus hung on the tree, and it produced life. But I don't think it's coincidental that everything here is related to the tree. So, when we talk about God's presence, the enemy wants to keep you away from God's presence. He wants to keep me away from God's presence. Even as a Christian. How many of you realize, as a Christian, that you still occasionally stumble up and sin? Do you guys realize that? And what happens when you do that?

You feel shame, right? You feel alienation? Like, I can't come back to God? Or I can't be in the presence of God? But we're going to talk about that today. Because that's what the enemy wants to do. The enemy wants to keep you and I away from his presence. Here's some of the lies that he tells the world. You see, today, you have invited some first-time guests. I've already met several of them, and I'm grateful that you've come. But many times, the world is reluctant to come into the house of the Lord. Have you ever wondered why? We're going to talk more about that today. But one of the lies that the enemy tells people is the church is not for you. Okay? The church is not for you. It's for all those good people. Right? How many good people do we have here today? Very few. Very few. So, if that's an excuse, you can go ahead and clear that up. We don't have, we're just a bunch of, as Chris talked about last week, a lot of imperfect people, right? But church is not for you. That's a lie from the enemy, because I believe it is for you. As a matter of fact, I believe you belong here. I believe that this needs to be your family. We want to invite you into the family of God. Do we not, Revolution Church?

Amen. We want to invite you in, and so we believe it's important. Another lie that he says is this. Church is not for you because you can't live that lifestyle. Have you ever heard that? I heard it, my father-in-law was 80 years old, and many of you have heard the story. 80 years old, never accepted Christ, never been a Christian, a good man, a good father-in-law, was really good to me. But at 80 years old, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, talk to him, go to him, and I simply asked him a question. Mayford, can I pray with you today to accept Jesus? It got really quiet, and then he said these words. I can't live that lifestyle. Perfect answer. Can I hear an amen? I said, Mayford, I can't live that lifestyle either. That's why Jesus had to come. He come because he realized that none of us could. You can't live it, I can't live it, none of us can live that lifestyle. But Jesus could, and he did, and he exposed sin on a tree openly. Defeated. Amen? And I'm grateful for that. Another lie. Well, I'm not going to go to church because it's going to be awkward. People will judge me there. There ain't no judgment in this house. Guys, listen to me. We have to look in a mirror every day. How can I judge you when I'm looking in my own mirror? I can't, and that's why we don't judge.

But the enemy would say, oh, no, if you show up, you're going to be judged. Well, that's just not true. That's just another lie. lie of the enemy to keep you from the presence of the the Lord. So this leads or let me give you three things I think will help people overcome these lies. Number one, assure them that God understands where you are. I'm talking about people in the world. Let them know that God's not caught off guard. He's not surprised but God truly knows where you are right now. Even in your sin, being away from God, God knows. Second thing, God desires to be with you. How many of you know that God desires to be with everyone? And I think letting people know that no it's God's not mad at you. God's not against you. God wants to be with you. Amen? Look at your neighbor and say God wants to be with you. He wants to be with us. And then the third one is this, God's presence will fulfill your life. Every single person, every human being was created with a big void and there's one thing that will fill it and it's not Tennessee football. It's not golf. It's not hunting. It's not going to the lake. There's one thing, come on, I'm getting on some toes. There's only one thing that fulfills that void. Somebody help me, tell me what it is. Come on, you guys help me loudly. What is it? It's Jesus. It's Jesus. Jesus fills that void. He's the only thing that fills that void and so I think we tell people that. Let them know. Not in a judgmental way but listen, God desires to be with you. He'll fulfill that void in your life. This leads to point number two. God's presence is not something we create. It's his gift to us independent of what we do. Can I hear an amen to that? We don't create God's presence. Okay? It's independent of what I do. God's presence is everywhere. Say everywhere. God's presence, he's omniscient. He's omnipresent. God is everywhere at all times. I know that blows our mind but he's outdoors. He's indoors. Amen? God is on the mountain. God is in the valley. God is everywhere at all times and so it's not something that we create. Look at what David said about God's presence in Psalm 139 7 through 10. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I

make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold me fast. God's everywhere. Can I hear an amen to that? He's everywhere and and and his glory is everywhere. We just need to acknowledge it. So when we look at God's presence in the Old Testament, I want you to understand that that God's presence is a gift to humanity. But look at Exodus chapter 25 verse 8 in the Old Testament. Here's what God told Israel. He said, let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. See God, God asked Israel to go ahead and build a tabernacle, a place where he could dwell. Now we said God's everywhere. So why would he want a tabernacle to dwell in? He wanted that because he wanted a specific place where people knew God dwelt. If you want to find God, you can go there. You know, I believe it's that way with the church today. You know, we pray over these services, we pray over this place, we invite God's presence, and I honestly believe when you walk through these doors, you're going to feel the presence of the Lord. Can I hear an amen to that? Why is that? Is it because we're good people? Somebody help me. Is it because the name on the front door? No. Is it because of mediocre preaching? Is it because of great worship? No. What is it? It's because Jesus, it's his presence, and we pray and we invite him. We want people to know when you come here collectively, there's a reason that God said for us to join together as the church body. Because people know that, and when they come into this place, hopefully they feel the presence of the Lord. I remember a few years ago, Chester, up in the stadium seats, he had an employee, and his employee wanted to, actually this may have been before he was your employee, he wanted to meet with me. He had moved here from out of town. He called me he was on his way to Knoxville to do a job, and he called me And he said Ken are you have would you happen to be at the church office? Can you meet with me? So he came in and we sat down and we started talking and he said So my wife has been going to your church for a while

And she really likes it and he told me he said I was raised Catholic and never really been in church that much But he said I've been coming for a few weeks And I said okay, and and it wasn't even sure really where this is going But he said I noticed that while people are singing and the worships going on that some of the people they raised their hands up I said yeah, they they do that and and he said so this past week I decided that I'd give it a try he did he did come on somebody This is yeah, amen amen. He said I decided I'd give it a try I said well Tell me how to go how'd it feel? Did you like it? Are you gonna do it again? And and here's what he said He said my wife's over here beside of me, and he said I've raised my hand He said I got it up to about right here, and he said I lost my breath He said I lost my breath. I said what you do and he said I put it back down He said but I don't know what that was I don't know what happened it was it's hilarious to hear the story and And so we talked and I shared with him. I said you were experiencing the presence of God I said that is the presence of the Lord that you're experiencing and I went on and I said by the way Have you ever been born again? Have you ever been saved know what what is that? That day in my office He knelt down on his knees and this man invited Jesus into his life and was born again and saved and listen to me But he here's what I said he felt the presence of God While he was still out in the world I'm telling you that God's everywhere God's everywhere at all times There's a young lady sitting right back here I see you on the the front row in the second section and I met her between services And she shared her story her testimony was Connie brought her up to me And she said she said for four and a half years. I was in Polk County correctional facility She said I watched you guys on the tablet every weekend I gave my life to the Lord and my life was transformed in Polk County correctional facility

Is that right? Come on? That's a praise the Lord moment Congratulations Because your your journey's just up. I said how long you been out? She said a couple weeks and today's our first time visiting Revolution Church Okay so What are you saying, I'm saying the presence of God is everywhere It's not just for the good people It's for everyone and so we need to let let the world know that God's presence is for you So so anyway back to the Old Testament look at Exodus chapter 40 verse 34 The Bible says then the cloud covered the tabernacle so God now is they built it they built the tabernacle. It's the tent It's where the Holy of Holies is that and they built it and it said the cloud covered the tablet tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle the glory of the Lord have you ever experienced the glory of God? I'm telling you something. There is nothing like it. It is addictive Listen to me one times not enough you got to have more When you get in the presence of God in such a way that his glory falls the Shekinah glory The glory of God falls. You can't describe it. You can't explain it All I can tell you is it is good. Look at your neighbor and say it's good It's good. And and so God's glory is now being revealed in the Old Testament. Let's go to the New Testament. I Want you to see the glory of God in John chapter 1 verse 14. The Bible says the word Became flesh who's the word somebody help me Jesus is the word in the beginning was the word the word was with God the word was God the word become flesh and made His dwelling where at? among us We have seen his glory The glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father full of grace and truth Can you imagine being alive when Jesus was here walking planet Earth?

You see in the miracles and hearing the stories and the teaching and the Sermon on the Mount and it Experiencing God's glory and it's revealed right before them. That is so good But Jesus said this you think this is good. You hadn't seen nothing yet This is my version. He said I'm leaving But he said I'm sending one and he's not just gonna Dwell around you, but he's going to dwell inside of you So look at first Corinthians 3 16 Do you not know now? This is this is you do you not know that you are say I am That you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you You Let that resonate for a second. You are carrying his presence. His presence is in your life Regardless of where you're at God's presence is there that's huge. That's unbelief That's it. That's a huge responsibility to act right to do right to speak, right? Because I'm carrying the presence of the Lord you all are say I am all of us are if you're born again If you've been saved this fellow that fell on his knees was born again at that point. He became a carrier of the Holy Spirit of God's presence inside of his life So God's glory now in 2026 do you know how God's glory is revealed? Anybody know Through the life of believers through your life Through my life through us as individuals people are looking at us and they can see if we're if we're acting the way we should they're seeing the glory of God so the pleasures of our lives are closely connected to the presence of God. Do you have pleasure today? Are you enjoying life? Are you enjoying serving God? And we'll listen to me if you're not go deeper in God's presence Go deeper in God's presence because that's where you find true happiness and true fulfillment Remember abundant joy and eternal pleasures are found in God's presence last point point number three Believers are to make the invisible God visible. That's your job

That's your assignment is to make the invisible God visible. Let the world see Jesus Gandhi This this Hindu lawyer said this and I quote I like your Christ But not your Christians Your Christians are so unlike your Christ That quote Has been talked about has been framed for years and years and that is a sad It's a sad quote for Christians. I like your I like Jesus. I Just don't care for Christians, I don't want to be that person you don't want to be that person You know God was a magnet. We talked about how Jesus drew people and there was no empty seats I want to be that person that people want to be around. They don't feel drained. They feel refreshed. Come on You know what? I'm talking about they want to be around you as a Christian when you realize that you're a carrier of God's presence and We carry it the correct way then it creates a draw and people want to be around it the world's desperately Wanting to see Jesus. I believe that with all my heart. I think the world really wants to see the true Jesus Will you let him see him through your life? Through your words through your works through your love Will you invite people to church We've got these cards no empty seats And my prayer is every single one of you will take a handful and Let's go out into our community and and let's invite Hey, listen to me it works People are just looking for an invite. They're just waiting on an invite as a matter of fact I was just sharing earlier that Pastor Grant and I we went out and grabbed a steak for his going away luncheon and And we were but we were eating and we're sitting there and and this lady is our waitress Super friendly and I just asked her I said, do you attend church anywhere by chance? And she said I don't I used to attend and she gave me the name of the church and I knew the pastor and I we Talked about that create some common ground talked about that church and I like that pastor real well

And and I said, well, I would like to give you an invite. We're in a sermon series and it's called no empty seats I'd like to give you an invite and She said were you located at I told her and she said oh, I live right behind it on Davis Ford Road She said I've got two two children. She said I'll be there Sunday morning at the 10 o'clock service So thank you for being here today, by the way. Yeah, amen Appreciate appreciate Cindy showing up at Revolution Church because it's not that hard You don't have to know all the theological Questions and answers if if they want to go to in that direction then just go to someone else You guys with me? We're not We're not there to argue foolish and unlearned questions Paul said avoid knowing they do gender strife. We're not there to argue. We're just there to give an invite. Hey, I know where the presence of the Lord is. I know where some good stuff's happening. I know where a good church is at, you know, and invite. Just hand a card and then let the Lord do what he does. You know, in the first service today, there was a young man here visiting and he was invited and this fella got a 1 o'clock, 1 a.m. reminder of church this morning. And I don't know how all that went, but he got the reminder and then his co-worker showed up at his house before daylight. No, I'm not, you think I'm kidding you? I'm being serious. I'm not going to give the name, but, because everybody know him, but shows up, he sends me a text and he said, hey, I'm out in the driveway. He's trying to back out, but the enemy's not going to win. And I said, you go, I'm praying for you. And I sent him some type of funny emoji. And so this morning he was sitting on the front row in the first service. Come on, somebody.

Pastor Chris used the word, he talked about compel. Use restraint if necessary, you know, so let's get him in the house because God will do the work if we invite. Truly, he really will. And so a lot of people waiting on us. I'm getting ready to wrap it up today, but I was doing some research and there's all kinds of studies out there for businesses that are wanting to plan a business in a certain area, a certain region, part of town. You can go in, you can look at the demographics, you can look at the average income, you can look at the population. So here's what I did this week. I went in and I did some research on 3419 East Lamar Alexander Parkway. Do you know where that's at? You're here. You're here. Congratulations. You made it. 3419 East Lamar Alexander Parkway. But I was curious, how many people live within a five mile radius of 3419 East Lamar Alexander Parkway? And so I've got a chart here that I put together. I want you to take a look at this. Within a five mile radius, a straight line from this church in all directions, total population 78,000 people. That's a lot. 32,000 people now live in Maryville, close to 15,000 in Alcoa. So we know we've seen a lot of growth. Thank you, California. By the way, we have a couple from California visiting today with us. Good to have Maryville's sister.

We love you guys. And every time they're in town, we get to say hey to them and I got to see them out in the foyer. But back to the chart. 78,000. Now check this out. The people who don't attend church, it's estimated 37,000 people in a five mile radius from this church. Now, a lot of those are likely to never attend. But here's the number I wanted you to look at and I've highlighted it. Those that are potentially receptive or actively looking, 3 to 7,000 people within a five mile radius of this church. I want you to let that sink in for a second. They would come if they were invited. They're looking. Guys, listen to me. I've talked to several people that falls in that category. But I have a question for you. Last week, you did a great job talking about the unexpected invite. You shared the invitations. The invitations have been sent out, but here's my question for you today. Whose responsibility is it to hand out the invitations? Mine? Is it mine? Yes. Is it yours? Is it all of ours? If these statistics are correct, and all of us could do what Jesus told his disciples to do, go, go, go in the marketplace, in the school, in the university where you work, your hobbies, the things that you do, and just invite.

I just met a family here today for the first time from Teleco Village, and every year. they give to Helping Hands. And I appreciate you guys being here today. Thank you, Mae and Jay. But a couple in our life group invited them because they're friends. Took an invite. Sometimes that's all it takes. I'm going to wrap up with this. I'm going to ask you to stand. Two weeks ago, I brought a young man up on stage. Mitch Tobert. I brought him up here and I asked him to share with you a little bit of his story. And you guys know that Mitch, he walked from Blount County Correctional Facility to Revolution Church. He showed up here. He'd been living under a bridge as you were talking about. And God has transformed his life. And it's a miracle. It honestly is nothing shy of a miracle. But here's the rest of the story. Anybody remember Paul Harvey? None of our young people do. Early service, everybody would remember him. Paul Harvey used to be the guy that says, now the rest of the story. Here's the rest of the story. Most of you today don't know who invited Mitch to church. Mitch got an invite. And let me tell you how that invite came about. It came on a tablet. He was watching a tablet in the Blount County Correctional Facility. And there was another guy, one of our members on the other side, that typed in a text and invited Mitch to Revolution Church. Can I tell you the response that Mitch gave? Is this an automated response? That's really, that's truly, he wanted to know, is there a real person on the other side of this? Is it AI? And Ryan said, yes. And I was in your same position not long ago. I was watching Revolution Church from behind the bars in Blount County Jail. And I came to this church and I found Jesus. And I want to invite you because I believe if you come, you'll find him as well. That's the rest of the story. But let me share something else with you. And Pastor Chris touched on it earlier. Do you realize that you place those devices, many of those devices in the Blount County Correctional Facility right about COVID time? The correctional facility was going to put in for every three inmates, they were going to put in one device. And they allowed us to change that ratio to every two. 50% of the population would have a device. And the reason for that is we have two services and that way every person in that facility should have an opportunity to watch this message. You gave, God did. You're tithing, you're first fruit. Guys, listen to me. When we talk about giving in here, we're not here begging for money because we need some raises or more income for staff. Do you know what we're

doing? We're trying to do more ministry. And the elders of this church are incredible stewards that make sure of that. And I'm grateful for that because listen to me, you gave and now Mitch is sitting here. Now he's married. He has a child and as Pastor Chris said, has his own business and is flourishing. Is that all I got? Come on, praise the Lord for that. Can I get real with you for about 30 seconds? Very real. Please don't be offended. But I need to talk to the church for a second. Not just this church, I think anyone, any Christian will listen, I think needs to hear this. The reason people hide from your church, the reason they avoid our church, a lot of it has to do with the message we're sending. When we, I want you to notice the way Jesus preached and I want you to understand what the good news really is. See, some people don't think that you've preached the good news unless you name out every sin. But you show me the example. example where Jesus did that. I want you to listen closely for a second. If I'm sitting here today and I'm preaching hard on adultery, adultery, adultery, adultery, adultery, guess what? There's not going to be many people caught in adultery that's going to walk through these doors. They're going to hide from that because I'm pointing it out. But when I stop preaching on the sin and start sharing the solution, which is the good news, people run. People run to Jesus. People run to the altars. People run to it because, listen to me, no longer am I condemned. I'm liberated. I could show up at the house of the Lord realizing I don't have to hide behind the trees anymore because Jesus placed that sin openly on a tree and now all I need to do is come in covenant just like you did in Polk County Jail with the Lord Jesus. And now my sins are forgiven. I'm glad. How many of you are glad today your sins are forgiven? Come on, somebody. When I sin, I don't have to hide anymore because I know they're forgiven. Now, does that give me a license to just freely sin? Somebody help me. No. Paul said no. God forbid. That's not the plan. That'll cause problems and destruction. The plan though is this, that God don't want you living in condemnation. Jesus came so you could live in freedom. And today there's freedom in this house. If you're stuck in your past, come out of it. Accept Jesus. Accept Jesus right now. Come on. He's here. The presence of the Lord is here. Listen to me. If you need this Jesus I'm talking about, He's shown up today. He's at Revolution Church for you. He cares about you. Come on. If you need Jesus, I want you to get out of your seat right

now and come forward. Hurry. Hurry. Meet me down here right now. If you need Jesus, come on. Anybody that needs Jesus, I want you to come on. There's somebody coming. Anybody else that needs Jesus, come on. Meet me down here right now. If you need Jesus, boldly in front of everybody, come on. Don't hesitate. Don't wait. I'm going to meet you here. You better come because I'm going to stand here all day until you do. Do you need Jesus? Come on. These people are walking down the stadium seats and they're going out. I thought they were coming to the front. Come on. Here's a brother. Come on. Let's celebrate. Amen. Hold your hand this way. Let's pray for a brother. Come on. Pray right now in the name of Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. God's good. There's no condemnation. There's freedom in Christ. Come on. In the name of Jesus, God today, whom the Son sets free, is free indeed. Come on. Say free. Say our brother's free. No more, no longer bound in Jesus' name, but free. Come on. Thank you, Lord. Come on. Praise the Lord for that. Amen. Come on. We got one last song and I'd like to encourage you all to stick around as we worship the Lord with this song. I honestly am so thrilled to be part of a church that just loves Jesus. You know, just loves Jesus and invites His presence. Come on. Let's worship the Lord with the team as they sing this last song. Let's invite His presence. I want to ask the prayer team, would you guys come forward? Today, if there's anything at all you need in your life, if there's absolutely anything, if you have a loved one that's away from the Lord, if you have a sickness in your body that needs healing, if you would just like to be encouraged today, I want you to come. Find one of these prayer counselors. Listen to me. These guys, these ladies have prepared for this moment and they're ready to agree with you in prayer. Amen. Let's worship the Lord with the team. I don't want any by you. You're more than every dream come true. All of the things I thought I wanted don't come close to knowing you. Now that I'm yours and you are mine, our love is the secret that I find. I'll spend forever in the pleasure I found looking in your eyes. Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. You can have all this world. You can have all this world. More than silver, more than gold. You are the treasure that I hold. Now that I'm tasted

of your goodness, nothing else will satisfy. Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. You can have all this world. You can have all this world. Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. You can have all this world. You can have all this world. I want Jesus. I wanna go deeper with you. You're the treasure that matters most. You're what matters. You always matter. I don't want anyone else. I don't need anything else. You are my one thing. You are my one thing. I don't want anyone else. I don't need anything else. You are my one thing. You are my one thing. I don't want anyone else. I don't need anything else. You are my one thing. You are my one thing. I don't want anyone else. I don't need anything else. You are my one thing. You are my one thing. You are my one thing. You are my one thing. You are my one thing. Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. You can have all this world. You can have all this world. Give me Jesus. Jesus, keep marching Jesus, you can have Oh, there's a world There's a world I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one thing I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one thing You are my one thing You are my one thing You are my one and only thing Give me Jesus Give back to me Jesus

You can have all this world You can have all this world Give me Jesus Give back to me Jesus You can have all this world You can have it all Give me Jesus Give me Jesus You can have all this world You can have all this world Give me Jesus Give me Jesus You can have Yes, you can have All this world Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus