Well, good morning, my friends, and welcome to the Heritage Hour. I’m Mark Gonzales, your pastoral encourager or soul care encourager here in Southwest Florida. And I’m so excited to be with you on air, online, and in media ministry for, well, about 35 years now.

So thank you for sitting with me at the feet of the Lord to listen for his heart to touch our hearts. Well, I’m very excited because we’re starting a brand new series today. One that I mentioned at the tail end of last times, the last series, which I called Soul Care Portraits of God.

Now we’re moving to another eight part series that I’m calling our Abiding Presence Portraits of God, because as you know, I see portraits of God throughout the scripture. All the passages give me these two word portraits of God where I can see his heart, his character, and just immerse myself in that. And I am so excited about this new series because we’re going to take the soul care portraits that we covered last time. And I hope you’ll check out my website, by the way, at markpg.org.

I call it Helping You Hear God. markpg.org. The series that I just did, that I just mentioned is archived there along with many other series, but start with the Soul Care one because from there, we’re just going to go deeper into that whole dynamic and looking at the abiding presence portraits of God.

And so if you’re a note taker, our first of the eight broadcasts, which are all 27 minutes, by the way, is how he is our abiding presence. Yep, this is the abiding presence portraits of God series. We got to start with the basic. he is our abiding presence there’s two types of presence ways that god manifests his presence the realities of his presence that we’re going to talk about today setting the foundation for the series ahead to how we can experience god experience the very presence of god how to experience the abiding presence of God, hence the series, the abiding present portraits of God. And if you have your Bibles we going to be starting over in well let start over in Psalm 139 and we be in verse 7 and following and then we go to Acts chapter 2 today to look at this portrait of how he is our abiding presence to get our series started And as we get started today, hey, let’s just go before the Lord, as is our custom, and ask him to speak, shall we? well lord i love coming to sit at my sit at your feet with my brothers and sisters we get to listen for your heart to speak to our hearts lord we understand that the scripture tells us the natural man cannot understand the things of the spirit for they are spiritually discerned and we pray that by your holy spirit present within us that you will help us see and hear and receive in heart the things you have for us today as we explore your abiding presence.

So thank you, Lord, for the privilege of coming together like this over the airways. Thank you for the privilege of getting together just with a brother or sister or with a spouse or with our family or with a group of discipleship partners and worshipers at church. And we get to come together and experience your presence and individually of course in our quiet times and in our daily practice of prayer and a daily practice of doing our best to consciously experience your presence lord oh i just pray we’ll cultivate that cultivators and art it’s a lifestyle because it makes all the difference especially in a world like we’re living in now that is in so much turmoil, so much confusion and anger, hostility. Man, but to walk in your abiding presence individually and as couples and as friends and as church families, as your people, we get to share that with others as well, Lord.

So I pray this will be a wonderful journey through this particular series we’re calling your abiding presence your portraits throughout the scripture oh thank you lord we love you lord and we pray this in the powerful name of the lord jesus christ and by his precious cleansing and healing transforming empowering and forgiving blood amen amen and amen all right my friends just to kind of give the overarching umbrella of this eight-part series that we’re calling the abiding presence portraits of god let me take it to john 15 5 before we go to psalm 139 because in John 15 5 it says this this is what Jesus said I am the vine you are the branches and he who abides in me That means to basically root into him, to marinate in him, to hang with him, to always be around him. He who abides in me and I in him.

Okay, now I got to stop a moment. That is profound. We abide in him, but he abides in us. I mean, that’s a constant intertwined unity that we have in him when we come to Christ.

It’s astounding. That’s what we’re going to be exploring this whole series. I am the vine. You are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. Man, we don’t make fruit, brothers and sisters. We bear it by being rooted in him, by being immersed in him, by abiding in him. And he goes on to say, for apart from me, you can do nothing.

And of course, that whole chapter, chapter 15, talks about branches that get broken off of the trunk. and of course when they get broken off they shrivel up and die right that’s why you have to stay connected right that’s how it works all right we’re going to talk about that throughout the whole series but that’s a foundational theme passage that i absolutely love in fact to be honest with you in my career as a local church pastor for about 30 years most of that when i was a senior pastor. That was the theme verse of the whole church, abiding in him to bear much fruit. It was also based and drawn from experiencing God. That was a discipleship series that came out in the 90s back in my youth and stuff.

And I actually met Henry Blackaby who created and spent some time with him and got to know his heart and stuff. And I was in seminary at the time and on the same track about what it is to be immersed in Jesus, what it is to abide in him. What is it to, well, as he would put it, find out what God is doing and then you get in on it. You don’t tell God, you don’t bargain with God about what to do.

No, he’s got this. He’s got us. He’s the one in control.

So find out what he’s doing and then just get in on it. I mean, and that was the theme of our whole ministry and this particular passage for me embodied it. Find out what he’s doing. Well, you do that when you abide in him You think like he thinks You feel like he feels You walk like he walks You love like he loves to the degree you abide in him To the degree you continually experience the abiding presence of God Hence the abiding presence portraits of God, which we’re going to be amplifying throughout our time together.

Now, this, as I mentioned, is going deeper into the whole concept of soul care.

Soul care is about experiencing the abiding presence of God, right? And here’s our working definition, and we’ll tweak it as we go along, because we’re growing together as we go through the study. I hope you know that. I don’t come here as if I’ve got it all done, and got it nailed, and been living it out.

Listen, I’m discovering this day by day like you are. I just have the privilege of being able to pull it together, to share it with you, and I love that. And thank you for tuning in. Thank you for the opportunity to be able to share the things that I’m learning as I walk with the Lord, and opened my heart to receive his truths.

And so soul care is simply, here’s the work in definition about two things, our unique God-given heart wiring and heart wounds, which the Lord yearns to lovingly reveal and heal to the degree we abide in him to bear much fruit.

So it’s all about abiding in him, experiencing his abiding presence.

So we have that foundational passage. Jesus said it explicitly in the Great Commission by the way just to give you a little bit more biblical foundation go therefore and make disciples of all nations we know that part in verse 19 but in Matthew 28 20 he says behold I am with you always to the end of the age I mean he couldn’t be more explicit than that I’m with you I am with you always always always and then in Hebrews 13 5 it says that he himself, that is Jesus, has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. My friends, this is profound stuff. He is saying specifically, I’m always with you.

I’ll never leave you or forsake you. Abide in me. I’m abiding in you. You know what?

You just do that. You live that out. Don’t just acknowledge the reality of the fact or the truth. Live it out. practice it and experience it and it makes all the difference in the world.

So, two things I want to amplify about how he is our abiding presence. There is his omnipresence and then we’re going to talk about his manifest presence. All right, two different things but obviously they’re wedded, they’re one.

But it’s just a way to express the reality of both and God’s way of dealing and caring for us.

So Psalm 139 verses 7 through 10. I mentioned this in brief in the last of the eight-part series on the soul care portraits of God as a bridge to this series.

So let’s go a little deeper here. Psalm 139 7 through 10 puts it this way. The psalmist is saying, Where can I go from your spirit, O God? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take up wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will take hold of me. Is that just profound poetic imagery or not?

Is that a profound word from above or not? Is that an incredible promise of God that he is everywhere? We call it his omnipresence.

Now, typically I have two word portraits of God. This is one word, but it sounds like two, but it’s one word.

But this is a wonderful portrait. He is our omnipresence. He is everywhere we go. God’s watchful presence is everywhere and all the time.

So let me ask you a question. when you think about that reality is it something that’s like you dread somebody’s looking over your shoulder they’re you’re under surveillance night and day and it makes it feels like god is a watchdog and he’s kind of scowling waiting for you to to to cross him waiting for you to sin waiting for you to mess up so he can just you know lightning bolt you or or discipline you Is he a taskmaster that’s keeping watch over you? Is he a watchdog and scowling? You know, a lot of people, in fact, maybe even most people tend to think of God and his omnipresence that way. Man, you can’t get away from it.

It’s big brother watching over your shoulder. It’s the heavenly father. It’s the big man upstairs watching you over, man. And it’s like, ooh, that’s kind of creepy.

Well, that’s sad.

Because it not about the Lord being a watchdog and scowling at us This fabulous truth about the omnipresence of God is telling us it not about a watchdog and scowling It’s about his watchcare and he’s smiling. Let me run that by you again. The idea of God being everywhere, no matter where we go, he’s there, he’s watching. It’s because of his watch care.

He’s not a watch dog. And he’s smiling because he loves you. He wants the best for you. He wants to protect you.

He wants to lead you. He wants to guide you. He wants to love you. And because he loves you.

And on a scale of 1 to 10, you’re always a 10, especially when you mess up. Especially when you mess up. Why?

Because you need him all the more. Oh, it grieves my heart, but bless your heart. I love you so much. I’m going to work with you.

I may discipline you on this. I may let it play out and let you experience serious consequences.

But I love you. I’m watching over you. Listen. Listen.

Receive. Experience. Apply. Do the stuff.

Don’t just know the stuff. God’s watchful presence his omnipresence is because he is a soul care shepherd that offers us watch care and a smile because he loves us but it’s not just his omnipresence that I want to talk about today Now let’s talk about his manifest presence. There’s the reality, the scriptural reality and truth that the Lord’s presence is everywhere. By the way, omniscience means he’s all knowing.

Omnipresence means he’s all presence, right? And the Lord is indeed everywhere.

But then there are times when he chooses to show up in his manifest presence, a more tangible, a more explicit way, maybe a supernatural way, maybe a profound way. He does it throughout the scriptures and he does it today. Let me take you to Acts chapter 2. We want to pick it up in verse 1 through 2 because I want to show you how God manifests his presence in kind of normal spiritual practices but then some supernatural manifestations as well and everything in between All right This is a reality of the scriptures It a reality of everyday life We going to take a peek at it today All right here we go.

So Acts chapter two, verses one through two about the day of Pentecost. Here it says, when verse one, when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. and suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven and it filled the whole house where they were sitting and you know this passage goes on about tongues like like tongues of fire and this and that and the other and then the speaking in tongues and and people hearing in their language all of that phenomenal supernatural manifestation of the power and presence of god and his spirit man that was just phenomenal but look what happens when we continue the story and pick it up in verse 12 it says and they all continued in amazement and great perplexity saying to one another what does this mean now let me stop for just a minute sometimes the scripture will say this language like and they all continued well what does all mean 100 of everybody. Well, no, that’s not what it means. How do we know?

Because of the next verse.

But let me just stop and say this. When you read a and they all, that means most of them did. Typically, it’s going to be most of the them, but not everybody.

So don’t get hung up with that. It’s just figures of speech and ways of writing and generalities sometimes, but the Bible gives itself some more clarity if you keep reading. And such is the case here.

So look at it. Verse 12, once again, all this phenomenal manifest presence of God’s stuff was happening at the day of Pentecost and verse 12 says and they all continued in amazement and great perplexity saying to one another hey what does this mean and in a perfect world 100% of us would be doing that and we all be having a great time but the real world gives us verse 13 but others were jeering and they were saying ah they’re full of sweet wine. In other words, they’re drunk. They’re just acting like idiots.

They don’t know what they’re doing. There’s no supernatural stuff going on here. They’re just drunk.

Okay, so let me stop there and say this. The reality in this world and in that world, as we just read, is that God’s going to manifest himself in so many different ways, and some are going to see it and some aren’t. That’s as simply as I can put it. Even though we have language in the scripture that says all were well it wasn most we don know if it most of the people probably not most of the people uh because he had a lot more pagans there in the town and stuff too but at any rate let’s not get bogged down in and assume percentages the fact of the matter is some people will be amazed and in great perplexity wanted to know more and receiving what’s happening wow manifest presence of god others are going to say what are you kidding is that a joke these people are just drunk hello okay hang on to that now let’s skip on down in acts chapter 2 to verse 42 now this is going to be more normal stuff here now watch this verse 42 they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer now that’s just kind of regular spiritual disciplines and practices that they were doing there.

You know, the apostles teaching, you know, we go to preaching and teaching and discipleship. That’s good.

But listen, God’s manifest presence can be through that type of practice. And it can be through the fellowship, the gathering together as the body of Christ. And you can sense the presence of God sometimes in more deep ways than others. The breaking of bread, it can be just sharing meals together, or the Lord’s Supper, communion.

There are times when there’s a manifest sense of his presence, other times a regular omnipresence, you know, depending on the person, right? And to prayer, same thing.

Sometimes prayer, you can just sense the manifest presence of God. And verse 43, everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many signs and wonders were taking place through the apostles.

So we have the both and here. We have the regular practices of listening to the apostles teaching or preaching or so, and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayer.

But then sometimes there are signs and wonders on the other end of the spectrum of supernatural manifestation.

But they’re both manifestations, regular manifestations and supernatural manifestations. And in either case, you can experience a sense of awe, but not everybody. at one time, as we saw earlier in the passage, how some would see it, some wouldn’t. Beloved, just let me encourage you to come to a place where you’re at peace with feeling a sense of awe in the presence of God in a worship service or a Bible study or a counseling session or a baby being born or a sunset or whatever it is, or music and stuff like that. And then some of these more pronounced things that happen in divine and stuff like that.

All of this stuff has been happening for the ages. I mean, throughout the Old Testament, we saw theophanies. Those were pre-incarnate appearances of Christ, like to Abraham, you know, as a stranger came and it was a theophany, a pre-appearance of Christ. The plagues of Egypt, some saw them as miracles of God.

Some didn’t make the connection. The miracles, the same thing. At Mount Sinai, there were manifestations there and smoke coming up out of the thing and Moses coming down and tablets and burning bushes and stuff.

Some would see it, some wouldn’t. The cloud by day, pillars of fire by night, even the whole Calvary experience, the road to Damascus. I mean, there were manifestations of God that some saw and some didn’t quite see.

Some heard, one heard a voice, Paul did on the road to Damascus, but the others just heard thunder.

Okay, it’s going to be like that. And it is, so it is today. I mean, in my heyday, I was in the 1980s. I was in seminary.

We had the conservative, moderate debate and movement and thing going on in our Southern Baptist Convention in those days. And I was right in the middle of all that And boy did I learn a lot during those days But also during those days there was a revival of the spirit movements of God that began with Pentecostalism in the early 1900s and the 1950s Charismatic movement kind of launched. And then the 70s was a fullness movement, you know, among evangelicals and all. And they’re all different.

That’s a topic for another day. but these were manifestations of God that were happening that people had differing views and to this day we still do but it’s okay. It’s okay. My friends, yes orthodoxy is important but so is orthopraxy. As we’re winding it down today let me just say this orthodoxy is interpreted facts, truth, propositional truth, academic truths, doctrinal truths, creedal truths, all those.

Now, they’re all interpreted. We’ve got to be honest with ourselves. We don’t live in a vacuum. We see through colored lenses, right?

And we do our best to interpret as best we can from the scripture what we determine to be facts, truth, propositional truth, academic, doctrinal, creedal truth all those We create those We codify certain interpretations and create a doctrinal system and a creed And that why we have all the denominations And that fine That good I mean I did a whole catechism you know based upon the three classic Reformation catechisms and did a children’s picture book. And we set it to music. And we have an adult prayer book about that. I call it the story of God and man.

So I’m all in on orthodoxy. It’s important.

But orthopraxy, that is doing the things of God, it’s not enough just to know the stuff be able to articulate it it’s doing the things of god this is orthopraxy then is interpreted faith and application and experience it’s the existential and mystical and pietistic side of christianity but it’s a both and not an either or don’t create a false dilemma and pit one against the other the ways of god in his scripture the ways of god in this life. They’re layered. They’re nuanced. And we get to discover that and explore that together.

Don’t be one dimensional and just try to say, this is the way everybody else is unbiblical. We kind of can fall into that trap in our insecurity, especially across denominational lines But hey when you cross the street do you just look one way No What were you taught You got to look both ways Otherwise you get run over Well I got news for you There not just two ways When you stop and think about it we look six ways The left the right we look down so we don step off the curb into a pothole. We look up toward the stoplights and the signage. All right.

But you better look. Here’s another one. You look forward about oncoming traffic and people.

So that’s five. And the sixth one, look behind you. I almost got run over by bikes in Amsterdam on two occasions because I didn’t look over my right shoulder before I crossed the street. And there were bikes coming from behind me and I almost got hit.

We look six ways before we cross the street. And in life, we got to look more than just one way.

But that’s the joy of having the abiding presence of God and His omnipresence. and manifest presence. Wow. Well, Lord, we’re just beginning this journey and I’m so excited. We got a good start today.

Can’t wait till next time. Thank you for being our abiding presence. In Jesus’ name, amen. Well, I’m Mark Gonzales and I hope you’ll check out my website at markpg.org.

Till next time, fall in love with Jesus, our abiding presence.