June 14, 2015 Don Riley

What Moses Could Not Handle: Exodus 33:12-23

Moses said to the LORD, 'See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.' And he said, 'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'And he said to him, 'If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?' And the LORD said to Moses, 'This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.' Moses said, 'Please show me your glory.' And he said, 'I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,' he said, 'you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.' And the LORD said, 'Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.' Let us pray, 'Gracious heavenly Father, we ask that you would peel back the roof of this place and open up heaven. We ask that you would open up our spiritual eyes of faith and gather a glimpse of your glory. We pray this in the wonderful name of Jesus. Amen.' I am grateful and honored to be in the pulpit of Woodland Presbyterian Church today. Thank you to this session and the sabbatical committee, your enthusiastic staff and your key disciple-making pastor, Matt Miller. Discipleship is key for spiritual growth, especially in adherence to the Great Commission in Matthew 28: 18-2-, to go make disciples. This is my passion and my heartbeat. To tell you about myself, I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I work for a non-profit. Discipling Men is a 501(c)3 in the state of Tennessee committed to growing men in Christ by meeting with them, ministering to them, and mobilizing them. I am ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America, ministering primarily in Second Presbyterian Church and First Evangelical Church. I bring you greetings from Sandy Willson and Cole Huffman. Both Sandy and Cole think a great deal of how God is using Woodland and Matt Miller to grow men and women in Christ in advancing God's kingdom. Sandy called and asked if I would do this. Cole meets with Matt. They know each other, the three of them each other well, and they are excited about what is happening in this church. And so this is very dangerous because I am a substitute. Remember in school, when subs came in your classroom and it was a field day to see what you could get away with, and this morning has been a demonstration! So quit playing those substitute games with me like switching your nametags. It reminds me of the time Leighton Ford filled in for Billy Graham in a cathedral in Europe one time. He noticed the back of the balcony there was a stained glass window of various