A God Who Hides

"But now thus sayeth the Lord that created thee, oh Jacob, and he that formed thee, oh Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."

"Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth forever. I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can do unto me?"

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

"At what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word. Listen — in God have I put my trus: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me."

So then, Psalms 150 and6: "Let everything let everything that has breath praise the Lord." Let everything, let everything that has breath . Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's a ministering spirit in this place this morning, and I know that God is here to minister. You can make your way back to your seats.

It's so good to see everyone in the house of the Lord this morning. We do miss Pastor and Sister Chassidy, and at some point today we are going to cover them in prayer. And we'll wait for the prompting of the Spirit, but we're going to intercede on behalf of our pastor and his family today, and we're going to rebuke the devour, is what we're going to do. And I'm believing God for a powerful move of the Spirit today.

I'll would turn our attention to the word of the Lord this morning. Be reading a pretty simple but profound verse in the book of Isaiah, found in Isaiah chapter 45, verse1 15. Going old school today — I'm going to be preaching all in King James today, so we're in for a treat. You might be lost, you might be found. We'll understand at the end of all this. "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, oh God of Israel, the Savior."

For the next few moments of our time, I would like to preach on the truth: A God Who Hides Himself. A God who hides himself.

You know, there's something ingrained in the DNA of mankind that wants to discover. We have a certain infatuation with the possibility of discovery. And it doesn't matter how many times you tell and retell the story, there is always something intriguing about finding the lost treasure, about finding the lost item, about finding the lost city, and the list goes on and on and on, because there's something in mankind that God placed in us that enjoys the thrill of discovery. It was this driving force that led Christopher Columbus onto a ship to sail across the oceans to discover the new world. And it was this driving force that led 12 men into a spacecraft with a destination of the moon, not knowing if they would make their way back to this earth. And so I would simply present to us this morning that this is a God-design in the hearts of men. It was the intention and design of the Master Creator to put it in our hearts to discover, to reveal, to find something for ourselves that was greater than us, that something that would outlast them.

And Jesus himself said in Matthew 7:7 and 8, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for everyone that askthe findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." And so I also present to this body of believers today that we have much to rejoice for, because like Phillip we can say, "We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." We have found him. We have found something that was lost, and we have found something that was worth discovering. We have found Jesus. hallu!

But we also understand that, as Christians, as Christ's followers, we are a people who have dedicated our lives to the pursuit of God and his holiness. We are a people who dedicate and discipline ourselves week after week to the house of the Lord. And we all share this common desire, that we long for this ultimate purpose: to continue the pursuit of the knowledge of who this great God is. And I hope that I could speak for all of us this morning and say that there's just always something exciting there. There's just always that spark of fire that shoots into us when we're allowed the opportunity to discuss the one who formed the universe, the one who was the master architect of creation, and the one who declared himself that he was the beginning and the ending, and beside him there is no other. And he declared that he was the way, the truth, and the life. It was all in him — the all-sufficient one, the all-powerful one, and the one who holds the earth in his hand. Hallelujah! place the stars in the sky, and the scripture says he calls them all by name.

And so, why do you people get so excited about this Jesus-name message? Why do you get all amped up and rowdy when you start teaching and singing and preaching the name of Jesus? Well, we get excited because you have to understand that I'm not just discussing an idea. I'm not just discussing an image created in the hearts of minds of men. But no, no, I'm talking about the God who created both the heart and the mind. And so in the Old Testament he had many names. It was El shadai, the Lord God Almighty. L Elon, the most high God. Adonai. Yahweh. Jehovah ni, the Lord my banner. Jehovah Rah. Jehovah shama. Elohim. Jehovah gyrus. Jehovah shilom. But friend of mine, we made the ultimate discovery. We found the ultimate treasure. We found what they were looking for, because behold, Luke 1:31: "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus." Jesus! We have found him.

biologist study biology, and doctors study medicine, and mathematicians study math, Bist study plants, astronomers study stars — but Christians study Christ. Christians study Jesus Christ. And in that vein, and with that setting, I turn us back to our passage today in Isaiah chapter 45 and verse1 15: "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, oh God of Israel, the Savior." We serve a God that scripture declares hides himself. And I think, if you had the time — or if you'd like to study this out — that there's many reasons why I feel God hides himself. But we can even look at nature and understand that things that are valuable are often hidden. You have to go mining for diamonds and gems and these precious metals of the earth. They're not easily discoverable. So if you want to find that thing of value, or if you want to discover that thing that is worth something, it often takes that seeking. Scripture says that we don't cast our pearls before swine. It's this element of God hiding himself for the sake that he wants to be sought after. God wants to be sought after. Jeremiah 29 and you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart."

But to me, this raises a question for my everyday living. This raises a question for the problems that I face and the fears that I have to live in. If he is a God who hides himself, what draws him out of hiding? What brings this majestic, glorious, wonderful, all-powerful, omnipotent God out of hiding? What is it? And so I would like, for a few moments, discuss three things that I feel brings God out of hiding. Now, I will say that this list is not comprehensive. There are a multitude of things that would bring God out of hiding. But for the purpose of what I felt the Lord spoke to me about, I've narrowed it down to three. Are we okay with that? We got three things we'll talk about this morning. The first thing — now, y'all know my brand, y'all probably already know where I'm going, but praise brings God out of hiding. Now look, I don't know what you want me to say. I don't know what you want me to do. But I have to let somebody know that if you're in a situation where you need the God who hides himself to show up, you better learn the art of praise. You better learn the art of worship. Because there is something about this God that can't forbid praise and worship. You look through scriptures, and from Genesis to Revelation, you will see a thread of praise and worship, and God being present there. So yes, one of the elements I will build my life on, I will preach about and I will teach about, and I will most practice, will always be praised. And I hope you're like me. I just don't apologize for it. I don't apologize for being a praiser, and I don't apologize for being a worshiper, because I'm on a mission in my life to draw this God out of hiding in my life.

"But thou art holy, oh thou that inhabit us the praises of Israel." So if God lives in praise, you better believe I'm going to build him the biggest house I am capable of. I'm going to give him the biggest throne that I'm capable of building, for him to live in. And here's the revelation someone needs this morning about praise, is: praise is not just a practice of the sanctuary. Praise is not just something that we do on a Sunday morning when we gather together. I'm telling somebody, if you're facing hell in your home, or at your job, or in a hospital, and the enemy is convincing you that he's making headway and that he's winning, you need to walk into that place of trial, and you need to walk into that place of aest — and maybe it just needs to be a soft little clap, walking around that office place. Excuse me. Or maybe you need to march home, and you need to open up your mouth and say, "God, I love you. God, I worship you. You are the Lord of this house. God, you are the Lord of this trial." Praise him! Praise him! Praise him!

Yes, I'm speaking to someone right now in the Holy Ghost who's been marching around the daunting walls of Jericho, and you know you have a promise, and you know you have a command, but your feet, you see, are starting to slip a little, and your eyes are beginning to haze from the heat, and you're trying your best to keep your spirits up, but the taunting and laughing of the enemy — they're just starting to wear on you, and you're just waiting for the prophetic word to shout. We wait no longer, because in the name of Jesus, and by the authority of the word of God, I release a shout over your Jericho, in the name of Jesus. If you would just begin to shout, if you would just begin to lift up the name of the Lord, the walls will begin to fall. You need to come out of hiding. You need to draw God out of hiding. And so I release praise into your heart and into your mind this morning.

And what does scripture have to say about this? Well, scripture has a lot to say about praise. As a matter of fact, there's a whole book of the Bible written about praising God. The longest book of the Bible, I might add, is about praising God. Let's see if we can find some truths here. Psalms 34 and3 — just teach for this, for a minute. "oh magnify" — y'all try being in my position, all right? "oh magnify" — you know what that is? It's make something appear larger than what it is. And some of your situations have been doing a good job at magnifying themselves. You wake up on Monday morning, and you get the text message, and you get to job, and you get the email, and you get the report, and it's magnifying, and magnifying. Well, what do I do? Magnify the Lord. Magnify the Lord. Magnify the Lord in your life when he's hiding, when you can't see him. And let's read the rest of it here. It says, "the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name — his name — ." Praise and magnify the name of Jesus.

Now, how do we best do this? What is the best method of magnifying the name of the Lord? If I want to do this magnification thing, is there a formula? Is there something I — yep: together. Magnify. Well, I feel the Holy Ghost more than I can just shout and scream right now. Magnify the Lord together.

Now, let me give you something that I got yesterday. cuz we went to the Greek Orthodox Christian fair thing up in Nashville, and they opened up the church, and they let us see the church, and the priest was in there teaching a little bit, and it was all enjoyable. And then we went outside, and you'll never believe this, but there were people who were fighting to watch these people dance. In their religion, they were standing around, and my kids were begging, "Daddy, can we go watch them dance? Can we go watch them dance?" And you know what? These Greek Christian Orthodox, they might have further revelations of truth that they need — I'm sure there's a whole lot we could piece through. But I'm going to tell you what they had together, was they linked up arm in arm, and they danced, enjoyed together. And that — you know what? — I believe there was an element where they were magnifying the name of the Lord together. Some of you need to link up with somebody in your life. Some of you need to get in the sanctuary and link up, and magnify his name together.

Psalms 113:1-9 says, "Praise ye the Lord. Praise, oh you servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever. From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high —" Okay, so here's what's happened. Verses 1 through five, the psalmist has magnified the name of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord, dwelt on the name of the Lord, uplifted the name of the Lord. And then, after so much of this praise, the Lord begins to move. Verse six: "Who humbles himself —" When we lift him up, he comes down. When we praise his name, he sends the power of his name down. When we praise God, he humbles himself "to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth." You ready? This is what else he does. Verse seven: "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust." So he comes down, and then when he comes down, he takes us and he lifts us up. Why praise? Why magnify the name of the Lord? Why talk about it so much? Some of you are tired of being poor and in the dust of your circumstances. I'm just trying to convey the scriptural truth: if you'll praise, he'll lift you up out of it. He'll lift you up out of it.

Oh, and I love this one. Verse n — oh yeah, here we go: "He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children." Praise helps you prepare for what you don't have yet. Right? Praise helps you get situated, and helps you get positioned, for the promise that you've been praying for. Praise positioned you. And after praise positions you — praise changes your position, to where you were barren, but now you see the miraculous. Now you see the miraculous provision in barness. Why? Because of praise. And I'm okay with what's happening right now, because the word of the Lord to us this morning is: take this praise to your trial. If we don't have it here this morning, I'm telling you, when you get to that place that brings you anxiety, or you get to that situation where you're fighting and battling depression, bring praise to that place. Bring praise there, and see what God will do according to his word.

"Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him." And when God hides himself, if you'll learn to praise and to magnify the name of the Lord, you'll see his miraculous provision. Praise brings the Lord out of hiding.

Obedience brings God out of hiding. God spoke to Abraham: "Abraham, G to make you a father many nations. You're going to be the most blessed. Now everyone's going to look at you, and they're going to aspire to be you. They're going to want to be like you. They're going want to get close to you. Abraham, you're going to be it. You're going to be my star in the earth. Look at the stars, Abraham, that's how many I will make your seed. That's how many I will multiply unto you." And he goes all of those years without a child, and then finally he gets the promise. He gets Isaac. He gets the promise. He gets Isaac. He gets that blessed promised son. And now the Lord speaks to him again and says, "Look, your blessing is about to be dependent on your obedience. hallu, the furtherance of your nation and the furtherance of your people is going to be dependent on how obedient are you willing to be." And so Abraham: "Come on, son, get everything that we need. We're going up to worship. We're going up to praise." Because Abraham knew in the spirit that if I'll praise God through my obedience that I don't understand — if I worship God through the things that I can't perceive, I can't understand — Abraham knew in the spirit that it was going to bring God out of hiding, before that ram ever showed up in the bush. And he worshiped through his obedience.

And in the Old Testament, there are two main stories that run through the Old Testament: people who obeyed, and people who didn't obey. That's the Old Testament summarized. There was a group of people that would obey God. There was a group of people that would disobey God. And sometimes they would cross between groups. And aren't you thankful for that — that we can be in that number, that sometimes they obeyed and sometimes they disobeyed? But not focusing on the ones who disobeyed, but I will tell you that there is story after story after story of someone who would seek God, hear from God, and obey God, and their situation changeed. Their mess would get cleaned up. Their foes, their enemies, their giants, their Red Seas, their promised lands were always taken care of when they oyed. Praise will — God will — draw God out of hiding, and it will bless us. But obedience is what increases God's kingdom in our life. Obedience is what brings God down to this earth in a more permanent way.

And I love the sacrifice of praise. There are some Sundays that we all know, that we bring that sacrifice of praise. But obedience is better than sacrifice. Obedience is better than sacrifice. You can't praise your way out of disobedience. You can't magnify God out of your disobedience. Sometimes God will hide himself when we've disobeyed the last thing he spoke, when he revealed himself, and we struggle with it, and we fight with it. And so I'm telling someone, the best thing that you can do this morning is go back to the place that God last spoke to you. If you feel like you can't see him, if you feel like you can't know where he's at, go to where he last spoke, and make sure you obeyed. Now, I'm teaching this like School of Hard and Knox. I ain't teaching this — praise, I feel like I'm pretty good there, like, you know, like maybe I got like a master's level. Obedience, I'm like trying to graduate high school, you know, and that didn't go well for me. Ask me later. I'm not up here talking about like I've just got obedience all figured out. But I'll will tell you this: I know that there's a lot of people who stop pursuing God because they can't feel him like they once felt him. And if they try to piece it all together, they try to figure it all out — but if they would just get back to an altar and say, "God, what was it that you spoke to me that I might have missed?" and just repent. And then, when he speaks to you, obey. And watch God show up in your life when you obey.

I have felt personally little block in my spirit. Don't feel like I backslid or anything, just, you know, just felt like there was some areas in my life I wanted to see God come out of hiding. You know, cuz sometimes I see God working over here — and, you know, we've got the youth ministry going on, and I'm going to be honest, we see the Lord working in the youth ministry. We see souls being saved. We see disciples being made. I see them up here worshiping — the best youth group in all the world, on all the planet, right there on those first few rows. And we see revival in the youth group. But then there's other areas where I don't see God as much. And, you know, the Bible does say confess your faults one to another, right? Confess your faults one to another. We were sitting on this platform, and Brother Shock was ministering, and he said — success isn't — I can't do his voice, because my voice is going out, and I don't want to offend him because it's being recorded. But, you know, "Success isn't defined by how much you have, but it's defined in the word of God." And as soon as he read that scripture, the Lord spoke to me, and he said, "Taylor, you need to sell your truck." cuz I bought a new truck this year. Very excited, worked very hard. I made a responsible decision. It wasn't ungodly. But, you know, I bought the truck. He said, "Lord, you need to sell the truck." And now I was put in a moment, and in a situation, where now the onus was on me: was I going to obey? And he spoke that to me on a Sunday, and on Tuesday I had my truck sold. Because I'm going to tell you, for this old boy right here, there's nothing in this world that's going to keep me from missing everything that God has for me. Not my brother, not my sister, not my mother, not my father, not my worldly possessions. There is nothing that's going to keep me from obeying what God speaks to me, because I want to draw him out of hiding in my life more than I want anything.

So praise is powerful. Praise is the weapon of our warfare. Obedience is God-honoring. God is in those acts of godly obedience. You can feel God as you obey.

So where do we go from here? Where do we go beyond praise, and where do we go beyond obedience? What else would draw God out of hiding? Human failure. Human failure will draw our God out of hiding. And I can't speak for anyone else in this room, but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I am thankful that we serve a God who is full of mercy, and who is full of compassion. He's not like the men of this world, and he's not fashioned after this world. He's kind. He's gentle. And so, for the next few moments of our time together, I want to let someone know that one of the events that we see repeated throughout scripture, where God is brought out of hiding, is when humans fail. It's when someone is trying to live for God. They're trying to do all that they know how to do. They're giving it all that they have. And life happens. Life comes upon them, and they're faced with a decision, and they're put in a situation that they weren't prepared for. And they say something that they never intended to say, or they do something that they just never intended to do. And the end result is human failure. And it's the universal cry of the Apostle Paul, Romans 7, uh veres 19-2: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find to to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members this law waging war against the law of my mind and makes me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through GI Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Listen to me: not everyone who fails the grace of God wanted to. Not everyone that messes up, or makes mistakes, it's because they wanted to do the wrong thing. It's just the law of sin that wages in all of our members. None of us are exempt from the law of sin that wages in us. We want to do the right thing, but we struggle with that bondage, and we struggle with that addiction. And it's longing to be more like God, but having that internal struggle of sin. And so we fail. Isaiah 53 and 6: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way." in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

So I'm coming for someone this morning who feels like you're alone in the failure. And you know in your heart and your mind that you made the choice, and now maybe it's time for the consequences. But I'm reaching for someone this morning, and I want you to know that something that I have found, both scripturally and in my life, is that one thing that brings God out of hiding is when I fail. hallu, it's when I fail.

The prophet Jonah is told, "Go to Nineveh. Go preach. I'm giving you a command. Obey. Praise on your way to Nineveh, Jonah. You know what to do. You have the command. You have the word from God." And Jonah disobeyed, and he failed that command of God. And so they're on the boat. He's headed to that city that starts with a te, that we all would laugh if I tried to say. You know, go watch Jonah and the great well, or whatever Veggie Tales did. They did a great job at pronouncing that city. "Jonah, go there." "Okay, no, I'm going to go the opposite way." God sends a storm to the ship, and God sends a great big we to swallow up Jonah. And when you're in the middle of the story, the whale looked like God's punishment to Jonah. But when you get to the end of the story, you realize that the well was God's redemption to Jonah, because the whole time he was in the belly of the whale, he was leading him back to the place that he commanded him to go. And so if you're in failure today, and you feel like you're living in consequence, if you'll stay with God long enough, you'll see the redemptive hand of God, and you'll be back in the place where he wanted you in the first place. God is so great. He's so loving. He's so big. He's so kind, that his punishment to us, even sometimes, is still redemptive in nature. It's still in the cradle of his love.

"Jesus must needs go through Samaria. Disciples, I'm beginning my ministry, and the first things I need to do are going to be very important. The first things that I need to do are going to be very monumental. And disciples, you know I'm the Messiah, but I have a need to go through Samaria. I have a need to go to the unwanted place. I have a need to go to the people of failure. I have a need to go to the ones that nobody wants. I need to do that, to go through Samaria. And disciples, you run on into town, you carnal things, you go get some bread, cuz you're always thinking about food." And Lord help me, cuz I know that's me. I know that's me. And I was so encouraged the other day about — who was I reading about? Was it Elijah, who was I reading about, that was struggling with hunger? It was — no, no, no, no — it was Peter, in the book of Acts, and he was up on the rooftop praying, and the Bible says he was hungry, and he was having a hard time praying. And it ministered to me, CU sometimes you get hungry when you're trying to pray. And those poor disciples, they couldn't do the work of the Lord yet — they were hungry. And Jesus is so good, so compassionate, he said, "You know what, y'all go into town, get you some bread. I'll do the work of God. I'm the bread of life, after all."

So here comes failure, walking down the road. Here comes failure at the inconvenient time. Here comes failure, coming to do what others didn't want to do. And failure sits right in front of Savior. And when failure gets before Savior, there's always going to be something miraculous happening. And so Jesus, and his heart, knew: the disciples, the chosen ones, the picked ones, the microphoned ones — they know. They know about the Messiah. They know my identity. "But I did not come just for the disciples. I did not come just for the microphone. I didn't come just for the ones who dressed apart, and looked apart, and act apart, and are righteous in their own eyes. I didn't just come for them. Failure, tell me a little bit about yourself." "Oh, well, what do you want to talk to me? You Jews have no dealings with a Samaritan." "Say, no, no, no, no, listen: I need to know a little bit about you." "Okay, well, let's talk about worship, because I perceive you're a holy man, and that's what y'all want to talk about, is worship." And if she'd have known worship brings God out of hiding — so she really did a good job. She should have talked about worship. It's gonna bring him out hiding. So she's worshiping, talking about worship, and J's like, "All right, I have the ultimate revelation. I need to come out of hiding. I need to come out of hiding, because I'm a God who hides myself, see? And not everybody knows who I am, but I need to come out of hiding. But what I need to know from you is: go call your husband." "Oh, well, I'm a failure. I don't have a husband out there." "Yeah, you're right. You don't have a husband. You failed this time. You failed this time. You failed five times. But here's what I need you to know, is, there is something about when a human fails, and their heart is right, and they want to come before me, that it brings me out of hiding. It makes me want to show you that the well have no need of the physician. The ones who are sick are the ones that are in need of the physician." And so failure brings God out of hiding. But you have to bring those failures to him.

This time in my life, I was struggling — sin, human failure and faults. And I was praying. I was talking to God about all these failures and faults, and I was being, you know, pretty pointed. I was like, "God, these are the areas that I'm failing, God. And it overwhelms me, and it consumes me. And God, it makes me feel like I can't even come near you, because I'm such a broken human being." And I need someone to hear in this room, that we're not all perfect. We don't all have it together. You don't know what I've repented of this week. You don't know what struggles I've had. "God uses us all." "That's — God, I'm struggling. God, I'm struggling." Pound my fist. "God, I'm struggling. I'm broken. I'm broken at the deepest levels. God, only you know my inward parts. God, only you know my heart, and I'm broken." And I felt so broken after repenting, I didn't even feel like I had the strength to pray anymore. I didn't even feel like I could lift my voice up anymore. I was like, "I'm done praying. I'm so broken, and I'm so messed up." And I was like, "Well, I'm still going to be a good Christian. I'm going to finish my devotion time." So I open my Bible, and my Bible reading for that day was the book of Leviticus. And you know God doesn't speak to you a lot from Leviticus, okay? So I did not go into this devotional time with some great expectation that Messiah was fixing to reveal himself, okay? I thought I was going to check my devotional box and be good. So I read through Leviticus chapter 1, and it's talking about the proper way to sacrifice an animal. And so it's going through, and it talks about the different ways of sacrifice an animal. And there's a statement that you see three or four times in chapter one of Leviticus. And I put one of them up here. Leviticus 1 and9 says — but his — oh, maybe I didn't give it. And if I didn't, I apologize. It's Leviticus 1:9, says, "But his inward and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet Savor unto the Lord." And you'll find it's three or four — go read Leviticus chapter 1 — three or four times it talks about the inward parts of the sacrifice, and it ends that by saying, "a sweet Savor unto the Lord." And so I'm feeling all nasty, I'm feeling all yucky, and I'm asking the Lord — I said, "Lord," I said, "why were the inward parts of the sacrifice a sweet Savor unto you?" And he said, "Taylor, when you're willing to bring those nasty parts of yourself before me, and you're willing to be intimate to me about your failures and about your weaknesses, it's a sweet Savor to me. When you're willing to reveal those things to me, and you're willing to tell me about how you failed five times, and you're willing to bring that before me, it's a sweet Savor unto the Lord." What draws this God out of hiding? It's when we bring our failures to him.

God called me to the ministry at the age of 14. I was a young, very dumb teenager. Very, very dumb. Classic dumb. Just make sure we have the setting for the picture. And God's like, "Hey, I want to use you." And I'm like, "Yes, you know, yeah, going to be used." Problem is, I'm young and dumb. And so, man, I'm trying to pursue the ministry. I'm trying to preach, two and a half or three minutes at the best, if I study for four or five months. And I'm doing all the things I know how to do. Ian Winningham preached for the first time this past Wednesday night in student ministry, and that dude preached for like 15 minutes. It was his first sermon. It's only because I gave him a 15minute time limit. Like, where did — how did you do that, Ian? Great job. Very good. Pursuing the Lord.

Well, I just kept failing. Just kept failing. And let's just say I was confronted about my failure, and just my consistent failures. It wasn't just one failure; it was my consistent failures. And I'm a young, dumb teenager, and I go home, go to my prayer closet, lay my face on the floor, and from the bottom of my heart I just begin to tell the Lord: "Lord, you are the one that called me to the ministry. I know I'm not good enough to be in the ministry. I know I'm broken. I know I have no business doing the pull pit. I know I have no business being anything or anybody. And God, honestly, I'm just done. I can't make it. I can't do it. I'll serve you, but as far as that ministry stuff goes, God, can you just take that from me? Because you've called me to do something I'm not capable of doing." And it hurt, that I was a failure in the things that God was trying to call me to.

And this is one of three times that this has happened to me, where I just opened the scripture. When I opened the scripture to Leviticus, it was in my scheduled Bible reading, so I was on Leviticus, okay? So it wasn't like I just opened the Bible. But I got in my bed, and I literally just open the Bible and defeat, and literally it was in Luke chapter 7. And the woman comes and begins to wash Jesus's feet. Oh, and the Pharisees were disgusted. And we rebuke the Pharisees, and Jesus' name. Ain't no place for the Pharisees. And they were just disgusted. "And how dare this woman wash this holy man's feet?" They didn't even think he was holy. They were just hypocrites looking for anything to get mad about. "How dare they — he let her — if he was — if he knew what kind of woman that was, you know, he wouldn't let her be doing all of that." And so Jesus perceived the thoughts in their hearts. And I love this. Can we put Luke 7:40? Luke 7 and 40 says, "And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee." "I've got a bone to pick with you, Simon. You're sitting there having all of these thoughts." So he says, "Master, SE on." "There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed 500 p, and the other 50. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto them, Thou has rightly judged."

And in that moment of my peak failure, where I was telling God I couldn't do it, "God, I didn't want to do it anymore," he spoke to me and said, "Taylor, I'll keep forgiving you if you'll keep loving me. I'll keep fixing you if you'll keep coming back to me. If you'll keep bringing these failures to me, Taylor, I can do something with this." Because what brings God out of hiding? It's human failure.

want to tell someone this morning, that God is always the God who will leave the 90 and9 pristine, the 9 and9 who have been found, the 9 and9 who have been Sav, living and acting right — and he'll always leave those to go and find the one who lost their way, and who stumbled on the rocks. He'll leave the sheep fold to go save the lost one, because that's what he does. You know, as Apostolics — going to help us this morning — we have a running joke. How come, the one Sunday — I've been inviting this person to church for 52 years, and the one Sunday I need everybody to be calm — you're telling people in the four year, you are, you're like, "Hey guys, this is my friend. I've been working with them for a long time." And you're letting us know, like, "Hey guys, let's keep our cool today, okay? Like, listen, this is a big deal." And every time we invite that person to church, and we have a blowout service — you know, tongues and interpretation, people running up that side of the wall in the spirit, people shouting in the altar — you know why? cuz there's something about a sinner that attracts the presence of a Savior. There's something about when they finally walk through those doors, Jesus just can't help himself. He's got to show up. He's got to show up. He's got to show up. He's got to show up.

My last passage I'll teach from, Genesis chapter 3, verses 6 through 8, says: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit , and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprit." And they failed. "And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden."

You know, we did not know the pattern of how God had a relationship with Adam and Eve until they failed. We know — oh yeah, how did Adam and Eve communicate with God? Oh, well, the Bible says he came and he walked with them in the cool of the day, in the garden. We wouldn't have known that context had they not failed. We would not have known how he related to his people had they not failed, and we saw it recorded. No clue what kind of relationship God had with humanity. And here's what you need to know: what the Bible says, it says he came in the cool of the day. He did not come in the heat of the day, because he was not angry. He did not come in the night, because he didn't want his kids to be afraid. He came when they failed, in the cool of the day, because he's not coming to condemn you. He's not coming to judge you. He's not coming to kick you out of this sanctuary. He's coming to bring you in. He's coming to — he'll block you from everybody, and he'll say, "I'll protect you. I'll bring you under myself. I'll be your covering and your shield. You bring your heart to me. You bring your cries to me. I'll protect you from everyone else, because I'm coming to you in the cool of the day."

And here's the number one life that I want to dispel as I'm bringing this thing to a close. We think that when we fail, God hides himself. But that's not what we see in scripture. They failed. They hid themselves. God came looking for them. Your failure, if you'll bring it to the right place — you're not going to find a God who's been trying to hide from you. You're not going to find a God who doesn't want to speak to you. I don't care what's been done. I don't care what's been said. I don't care what's happened in the midnight hours. You'll find a God that, when you begin to seek him, he'll — you'll find him. And when you begin to call out to him, he'll answer you. And so right now, I speak to every backslider, to every sinner, to every saint who has failed the mercy of God — and by the way, we're all in that number. God is coming out of hiding today. I'm not talking to anyone who's looking for an excuse to sin. I'm just talking to someone who's failed, and it's turned failure into fear in your spirit, where you're scared to cry out to Jesus, and you're scared to talk, because you don't want to be rejected. And you don't want to offend his holiness, because you know he's holy, and you know he's righteous, and you know that you're not. But that's what the cross was for. It was so his blood could cover us in our failures, and his blood could cover us in our weaknesses, and we could have the place to come boldly. To come boldly. It's not the righteous that come boldly. It's not the ones who have it all together that come boldly. If you have a revelation of the name of Jesus Christ, if you have a revelation of Calvary, it qualifies you to come boldly before the throne of grace. Not the throne of power. Not the throne of judgment. Not the throne of condemnation. He said, "Come boldly to me, and receive my grace."

If we could all stand. The goal is to bring God out of hiding. That's the goal. Could you put Genesis 3 and9 up there for me, please? And I'm so sorry about all these scriptures. That's on me. We want to draw God out of hiding. Praise, obedience, faithfulness — these are things that'll bring God out of hiding. But when it came in the area of human failure, we see that God was trying to draw someone else out of hiding. He's a God that hides himself. But man, when his people have messed up, he's calling: "Taylor, I know you feel like a failure. Taylor, I know the sin and the condemnation that you struggle with, Taylor. But cast your cares on me, Taylor. Take my yoke upon you, Taylor, for it's easy, it's light, if you'll come to me, if you'll bring those things to me."

Isaiah 45 and 15: "Verily thou art God that hidest thyself, oh God of Israel" — how do we end it? — "the Savior." The Savior. Isaiah was prophetically speaking that one day there was going to be a man who was going to wrap — there was going to be a God who wrapped himself in flesh, and who came to this earth to die a sinner's death, so that he could draw all men unto him.

If we could all close our eyes. If you need to praise, you need to praise. If you need to obey, please, please obey what God has spoken to you. I don't care what it is. And if you need grace, if you need his mercy, you can come. Acts 238. They were asking, "What do we do? How do we be saved?" "Okay, I hear you. I failed. We messed up. We crucified the Lord of glory. I get it. We get it. So what do I do?" Just repent. Say you're sorry. Say, "God, I don't want to do these things anymore. God, I don't want to be this person anymore. And if you'll help me, then I'll do my part." Repent. And then we're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, because God's married to us. God wants to marry us, because he wants to be faithful even when we're faithless, and he wants to be a covenant-keeping God with us. So we're baptized in Jesus' name. And then it says to be filled with the Holy Ghost, evidence of speaking in tongues.

My invitation to the altar today is for everyone. But if you haven't experienced Acts 238, today is your day. This is your moment. God will protect you. God will cover you. You're going to find a loving God, and you're going to find a group of loving people. I wish we could begin to flood this altar right now, as a proclamation that this is a safe space. This is a safe place to find God. God's going to come out of hiding today. He's going to show up in some of our lives today. He's going to forgive someone today of that weight of sin. He's going to loose you. Hallelujah! Come on, can we just begin to call on the name of the Lord all over this place? Hallelujah! Jesus, we bring our faults and our failures, oh God. Lord, we bring our struggles and our triumphs, oh God. We bring them to you, Jesus. Hallelujah.