The Presence of the Lord Part 1 | Jentezen Franklin

Together, we're inspiring people to live for Jesus. If you're looking for more in life, to live with purpose and peace, to make a difference for your family and those in need around the world, Jesus is the answer, and our mission is to simply point you to Him. You're watching Kingdom Connection with Jensen Franklin. When the fight, I'm slowly drifting, oh, back upon. And just when I ran out of rope, and then I didn't know, and He told me that I was not the King. You picked me up, You turned me around, You placed my feet on a solid ground. I get to master, I get to stay alive. Because You filled my heart, You changed my name. Forever free, I'm not the same. I get to master, I get to stay alive. I'm not the same. I cannot deny what I've seen. Got no choice but to believe. My doubts are burning, like ashes in the wind. To show love to my old friends. But in the bitterness, You can't just keep moving. No, You ain't welcome here. Now, until our streets are full, I'll sing about You to save my soul. Because there's no one as bound as You. You picked me up, You turned me around, You placed my feet on a solid ground. I get to master, I get to stay alive. Because You filled my heart, You changed my name. Forever free, I'm not the same. I get to master, I get to stay alive. I'm not the same. When we get home... They lost the war and I'm free.

I am free. I am free. They lost the war and I am free. I am free. I am free. They lost the war and I am free. I am free. They lost the war and I am free. I am free. I am free. They wake me up. They turn me around. They place my feet on solid ground. I am the master. I am the savior. They touch me in my heart. They change my name. Forever free. I am not the same. I am the master. I am the savior. I am not where you are. I am not where you are. I'm reading today from the book of Mark chapter 5. Go there with me. Verse 34. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, which is translated,

my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of those who stood by when they heard that said, look, he's calling for Elijah. Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink, saying, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to take him down. Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. Then the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. bottom. So, when the centurion who stood opposite him saw that, he cried out like this and breathed his last. He said, truly, this man was the Son of God. I want to preach to you this morning on the presence of the Lord. The presence of the Lord. The reason that the text is left in ancient Hebrew, the writers say that when they were translating from Hebrew to our languages in the first Bible, which was the King James version for us, they could not find the words that it carries in that culture, just as there are great illustration words that have generations of meaning to them. The translators lifted it and decided to just leave it in its original language because what was happening on the cross at that very moment when Christ died, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he was put on the cross at 12. We know that it went from 12 to 3 o'clock. At 3 o'clock, the Passover lamb would be slain. Exactly. And that's when he died. Exactly. What happened was beyond our comprehension, the abandonment of Jesus, the Son, by the Father and the Holy Spirit. It was unspeakable. It was God in flesh, God in skin, with bones and blood. All of

the Godhead bodily, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, but now the Father, the Holy Spirit withdraws. The presence of God withdraws. It had to because God is holy. The Holy Spirit is holy. They cannot, they withdraw their presence. The presence, the Spirit withdrew in that moment because Jesus took on the sins of the world. He took, he who knew no sin, in that moment he became sin and God is holy. He could not stay there. He pulled away and they did not know. And that's when he cried out for the first time, the God man in flesh felt the abandonment of God and the Holy Spirit. And he cries out, my God, my God, why? Twice, why have you forsaken me? This is what it feels like when sin overcomes his life as he's on the cross dying for our sins. He had never committed a sin. The Holy Spirit lifted, the Father lifted so that the God man could die. Who killed Jesus? What killed him? Was it the lack of blood? Did he bleed out? We know that he bled, that he bore many stripes. On the Via Della Rosa, the stone street that is still there today, he collapsed. And in that moment, there was a man who picked up the cross and helped him bear that cross. If Jesus fell beneath the weight of his cross, it tells me I don't have to be strong 100% of the time, but that God will have people in our lives. You need a church. You need people that when you come in and you're weak and you're about to collapse under the weight of whatever it is you're dealing with, just like what we're feeling in this service, there is a presence that can come up under you and the cross you're bearing and say, I know you can't go another step in your own strength, but there's power in the blood and it'll give you strength to go from day. Strength to take up this cross. If God doesn't remove it, I'll bear it by his grace. Jesus, the God-man, could not die until two things happened. He had to quit speaking. The Bible said his words were spirit and they were life. When Jesus was speaking, it was the words of God Almighty. And it's impossible for death to invade him as long as he was speaking. As long as he kept speaking a word, death was held at bay. As long as he was having conversations with thieves, death couldn't take him. And he had a thief on the right side and the left side and he's talking back and forth to them. As long as he's talking to the Father, death couldn't take him because his word is so powerful.

These are God's words and no death, no demon could stop him from speaking. And when he spoke, his words are spirit and they are life. He's talking the conversations from the cross to John, his half-brother, and to Mary, his mother. He could not die secondly as long as the presence was upon him, the presence of the Holy Spirit. When the eternal spirit lifted, when God Almighty lifted, and in that moment, he gave up the ghost. Why hast thou forsaken me? He didn't say, why am I bleeding? Why am I suffering? But his concern was, why I've never had this feeling that the presence has left me. I don't feel the presence anymore. When the presence lifted and when the words of his mouth ceased, he died. There's a clue in this that we need to pick up on. As long as we are confessing God's word and God's word is active in our life, and as long as we are in his presence and being with him, we cannot die spiritually. The key to life is to keep speaking the word and having the word active and getting in his presence and loving his presence and worshiping him and being in that place with him because his presence gives life to your soul and to your spirit. Speak the word. As long as this church, if the word is preached and the presence is here, it will not die. It has not died for all these decades. And this church never has to die, hallelujah. Because if we preach the word, but the word is not enough by itself, what do you mean? There is a difference between the, the Bible said, this is a Bible verse, the letter killeth. If all you have over and over and over is a steady diet of just hearing scriptures mumbled and there's no anointing on it. But when you put his presence with the word, if you have singing, but you, and they're singing good words, but you don't feel his presence, there's no life in it. And there, that's why all churches are not the same.

You got to get the presence and you got to get the word and everything you're singing, everything you're preaching. And if you get his presence, it's everything. It's everything. And as long as we're confessing the word and activating the word and preaching the word and proclaiming the word in song, and as long as we are entering into his presence, not coming to church, entering into his presence, the church cannot die. I know in my own life, as long as I'm activating the word, when I feel myself getting dry, activate the word and get in his presence and life comes, it's an amazing thing. In the presence of God, you live spiritually. We've got to keep the presence of God in our church. We've got to. Keep the presence of God in our life. We've got to keep confessing. Don't ever lose the presence. Jesus was stripped naked on the cross. There was no loincloth. It's not biblical. They stripped Him completely in shame and dishonor and disgrace. They stripped the second Adam, the first Adam in the garden, violated God's rule. And He hid from the presence of God. He hid from the presence of God because the presence of God exposes sin. That's why we've got to have the presence of God in services like this. Because church is not just about thrilling you. Church is about you getting into the presence of God so deeply that it exposes sin in your life that needs to be repented of and forsaken. You see, not only does the presence of God preserve life, but it exposes sin. That's why when God came into the garden and the scripture said, Adam said, I heard your voice. And God said, where are you?

And He said, I heard your voice and I was afraid. You see, I believe Adam was clothed with the glory of God. How did he know he was naked? He said, and I was naked and I was afraid. How did he know he was naked? He had to have had some reference to that. He had never seen anybody else. How did he know that? They knew they were naked because the glory of God had lifted when they had sinned and they were uncovered. Jesus on the cross when He was dying is significant that He was naked at that moment because it exposed Him as the sins of the world to the Father. Every sin ever committed, He took on in that moment. Don't ever lose the presence because it reveals what's wrong. The Holy Spirit brings things up and when He brings things up, that's the presence of God. If you're beginning to develop strongholds and the enemy's beginning to get you on a path that is not right, the beauty of the presence of God is it not only preserves your spiritual life, but the Holy Spirit comes to expose sin. When it exposes sin, you begin to feel freedom. You begin to, you begin, if you will, repent and forsake that sin and let the Holy Spirit purge you and cleanse you of that sin. It's a powerful thing. It's a powerful thing when the Holy Spirit's presence begins to convict you. The Bible said in heaven right now there are angels worshiping around the throne. There are living beasts and created beings and elders that are worshiping around the throne. Saints of every tongue and of every kindred and of every nation worshiping around the throne. And when you align, your worship goes through the filter of angels and the filter of elders.

And suddenly when your heart, when it's heartfelt, when it's coming from your soul and your spirit, that's what worship is. When the hands raise because you really are overwhelmed with the goodness and grace of God, then all of a sudden that goes all the way in alignment into the throne room of heaven and you create a throne zone through which God's presence finds you. The Spirit searches and seeketh for such that will worship Him in spirit, not in tradition, not in dry routine, not in old religiosity and all of that, but worship Him in spirit and in truth. I'll give up anything for you. I need you. I'm in alignment with you. It's going through the filter of angels and elders and it's reaching the Lamb on the throne. Hallelujah. The emphasis on the, you know, many times we say, oh, the presence. We need the presence of the power of God in the church again. No, we need the power of the presence. He is the power. Jacob was running from his brother. He was in trouble. And he laid his head on a rock. And he was at Bethel. And the Bible said suddenly the heavens opened up. He got in alignment. He was crying out to God. And he got in alignment. And he saw into the next world. And he saw angels ascending and descending, taking up prayers and praise

and bringing down on a ladder miracles. Like if nothing goes up, nothing comes down. The more worship that goes up, the more the glory of God that comes down. Jacob got in the presence. God didn't have to say anything to him. He just got in the presence. And he said, surely the presence of the Lord was in this place. And I knew it not. Did you know that the presence of God is available to you? The veil has been torn. My text said that, the veil was torn top to bottom, not bottom to top. Bottom to top would mean some man got in there and tore. But when it's, that thing was 40 feet high. It had to be God reaching down from heaven and saying, I'm tearing the veil. Come on in my presence.