Hey this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you and all those you share it with.

God bless you.

Thank you, Lord.

You can take your seat for just a moment.

Amen.

Praise God.

Hey, I I wanna I wanna make uh I wanna make an announcement of my own that wasn't on here.

Um But You know, a a few about a year ago we asked for some help in the parking lot and man we got a great group of guys back here.

We met back there.

We fed them pizza.

It was about eleven or twelve guys and now we're about down to three.

So I want to make another call for some people to help with the parking lot so that our boys can take a break, man, and enjoy the service.

So if you are a man And you know how to park cars, um just you know, both uh I I would encourage you to serve your church.

I it's not something that I want you to do every single week, but if there's enough of us We can make it work.

Amen.

And as many of you know, our Spanish service, our 9 a. m. service is going to be moving to 2 o'clock.

So for the rest of this year, we're going to have an 11 o'clock service and a 2 o'clock service.

And we want to make room for the growth that God is bringing.

We want to prepare ourselves.

And one way that we prepare ourselves is also to prepare our teams.

And we're going to need another team.

We're going to need more hands on deck, more people, more ushers, more security, more.

More musicians.

Not more singers.

We got a lot of singers.

We need more musicians.

Um, but we need yes, good and anointed musicians.

Amen.

But this is the time for us to step up and begin to serve so that we can make room for what God wants to do.

Amen.

Amen.

Y'all don't don't get quiet on me.

It's been two weeks.

I've not been out, man.

Come on, remind me that I'm a part of a Pentecostal church this morning.

We love to serve our church.

We love to serve the kingdom of God.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's go to the word.

Exodus 34.

I want you to turn there with me.

Exodus 34.

And um you can also, if you want, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

You can leave that one as a placeholder.

But, you know, it's often said that scripture interprets scripture.

That's exactly what we're going to be seeing today.

We can preach Exodus 34 all on its own.

But it is not complete without 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

So there's gonna be a lot of text today.

I'm gonna read a little bit today And there's going to be some biblical theology, so stay with me.

Don't let me lose you.

But in Exodus 34, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments for the second time.

The first time, if you remember, Moses came down with the two tablets of stones that have that had engraved the The Ten Commandments, but he broke them in his anger when he saw the people of Israel worshiping a carved image.

We talked about that a few weeks ago, where the Levites rise up and they stand with God.

And Israel repents.

God gives them another chance.

And so this being ministered to, Exodus 34, 27 says this.

And the Lord said to Moses, Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights.

He never he neither ate nor drank water.

And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, as he came down from the mountain.

Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone, because he had been talking with God.

Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them.

And afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out And when he came out and told the people of Israel what was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining, and Moses would put the veil over his face again.

Until he went in to speak with God.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, I pray that this word would cut through the depths of our hearts, God.

Lord, we give you permission to do what you want to do, say what you want to say, my God, to convict us.

To edify us, to bring us deeper into communion with you, Lord.

I pray that we would know today, Father God, that you desire a true relationship.

With your sons and your daughters.

I pray that we would walk out of here today, my God, knowing, Father God, that what you long for for us, my God, is authenticity, Father.

I pray, Father God, that we would leave here closer to you, my God, not more distant.

I pray that you speak, Holy Spirit, that you take over my words.

We love you, we thank you Amen.

Amen.

You can take your seat.

And title the message today, Show Your Face.

Show your face.

What I hope that today will do is encourage the people of God to be so bold to approach the throne of God.

I'm going to say that again.

I'm praying that this message would communicate to you that God wants you to be so bold to approach his throne.

I don't know if you've noticed this, but when a church does an altar call, this church or any other church, maybe a quarter of the entire congregation comes forward to the altar.

If that Right?

There's a reason that our altars aren't as large as the whole sanctuary.

They're only a fraction of the whole sanctuary.

It's because not everybody responds. to the altar call.

And and I get it, not every altar call is going to be for every person.

That's that's fine.

I've been in services where the worship was great.

I was ministered to by the sermon, but I wasn't drawn.

I didn't feel like I needed to respond to the altar call simply for the altar call's sake.

That's okay.

It's okay to just worship there in your seat during the time of the altar call.

I never Want anybody to feel obligated to come to the altar call, obligated to worship, obligated to lift up their hands, obligated to sing.

All right, because then it's not true worship.

It's not worship in spirit and in truth if you're obligated.

Man can obligate you to do certain things.

It's only the Holy Spirit who convicts you to do certain things.

I don't want you to come to the altar call out of obligation.

I want you to come out of conviction.

Because something in you is telling you, man, I need to respond.

But there are some people who have never been to the altar call.

There's some people who have never lifted up their hands in worship Some people who have never had a real moment with God, there are people who are quicker to ask people for prayer than they are to lead themselves in a prayer.

And I don't say this to make anybody feel bad.

I don't say this to single you out.

Maybe you're a new Christian and you're still observing some things and you're You don't know what the protocol is.

You don't know if if I come to the altar call, does that mean I need a I'm going to be prayed for?

Do I get to have a moment with God by myself?

Is somebody gonna come behind me and put their hand on my shoulder?

I don't really want that And so you're kind of you know you you're kinda new to it.

Maybe you're not even a Christian yet.

You're just here observing, you're listening, you're kind of waiting to see What your soul wants to do.

And maybe you are a Christian and for whatever reason, maybe it's pride, maybe it's shame.

You don't want people knowing that you got some problems, even though we know you got problems, everybody's got problems.

But that's the reason that you don't come to the altar Today's not a my sermon is not about altar calls.

There might be a multitude of reasons why you might not come.

But what I want you to know, this is what I want you to know, is that if you have said yes to Jesus, If you are walking with Christ, but those intimate moments with him are rare, it's time to show your face.

It's time to lift up your own song to the Lord.

It's time to lead your own prayers.

It's time to open up your Bible and and get into the Word of God.

It's time to surrender something real.

Stop hiding.

Stop stop being ashamed.

Stop hesitating when it comes to having a real encounter with God.

And see, the reason that we study scripture, the reason that we study theology is so that we don't walk in ignorance.

You can walk in Christ, you can walk with Jesus and still walk in ignorance.

And I've been in church a long time, I've been in ministry a long time, and I can tell you that there's a lot of Christians who have said yes to following Jesus, but they still act as if they are under the old covenant.

They are unaware of the full glory that is the Son of God in their life.

They are unaware when we sing these songs about Jesus.

What they're really saying about Jesus.

They're unaware.

Sometimes we don't realize what we have Sometimes many of us don't realize that Jesus is more than just a savior, He's a friend, He's an advocate.

God is not just some majestic deity in the clouds so far away from us, He is our Father.

That is the glory that we walk in today to be able to know him and to be known by him.

There was a time where the people of God could only hear from God through a prophet.

There was a time where the people of God could only appease God through the sacrifices of a priest.

There was always a wall of separation, a veil is what scripture calls it.

Between God and the people of God.

The people could not fully see the glory of God.

It was too much for them But Moses was special.

Moses was privileged to witness the glory of God.

The Bible says that he spoke to God face to face.

The Bible says when Moses dies that there was not another prophet who came after Moses because he had such a deep communion with his father that he spoke with him face to face.

The text says that Moses would go up to the mountain and he would spend time with Yahweh.

On this occasion, he had fasted for 40 days.

And 40 nights.

I want you, we we read that in the Bible and kind of like just peruse over it. 40 days and 40 nights is 960 hours that Moses went without food or water.

Some of us can't go seven hours from a sleep fast without being hangry in the morning.

I need me a taco Moses went 40 days with no food and no water.

Science says that's not even possible.

Science says you can't go more than seven days.

Without water.

So it's a miracle that Moses survived.

And not only did he survive, after 40 days and 40 uh nights of fasting, that boy had enough energy to hike down a mountain.

Where do you where do you even get that fuel source from?

The only way this would be possible was by the strength and the provision of God.

Moses depended fully on his God.

And and these 40 days he was immersed in the presence of God.

He wasn't praying a little here and there and then stopping to scroll on Instagram.

He wasn't he wasn't ending the night saying, all right God, what a great prayer session.

Now I'm gonna now I'm gonna watch Netflix and and chill and grab me some popcorn for the rest of the night.

I'll see you tomorrow.

No, it was just him and God for 40 days.

Straight.

He didn't even have a companion.

He didn't have a friend.

He didn't even have a dog up there.

It was him and God face to face.

He was deep in communion with God.

And I say it like this because I want you to comprehend the level of commitment Moses had to get into to have this radiance of God's glory over his life.

And can I tell you that it gets easier to stay in the presence of God once you're there?

We might think that for Moses it became more and more difficult as every day passed, but I think that it got easier for Moses.

Because in his flesh he was weak, but his spirit was a mountain of strength.

So much so that when he comes back down the mountain, the Bible says his skin is radiating with God's glory And the people notice.

You can't get that deep into God's presence without somebody noticing something different about you.

See or no?

I mean even after a worship set, even after a night of worship, you got girls with mascara stains all over their face You got men, grown men, puffy eyes, watery eyes coming out like they'd been crying.

That's after a worship set.

Sometimes God will take you a lot deeper than just a worship set.

He'll take you through seasons, some uncomfortable trials where all you know to do is depend on him.

And when you finally make it through the other side of what people thought was going to be impossible for you to make it through, they notice.

God showed you something on that mountain.

God ministered in that valley.

God sustained you.

He healed you.

He did something new in you.

There's something different about you today.

And now your face shines with the glory of God.

Anybody's face shining with the glory of God?

Don't raise your hand if it ain't true.

But you know it's true when your family says, man, there's something different about you.

What is this?

Why why why are you smiling?

Where's the anger that that is always coming from you Where's the negative talk that's always coming from you?

Something, God did something to you.

People notice when you're in communion with God.

And I I gotta tell you, man, when I was preaching this word, like I just I longed, I longed to know God this way.

Because if I'm being honest, too many times, it's my spirit that's weak.

Too many times it's my spirit that's distracted.

But my soul longs to be in his presence.

My soul longs to hear him.

I want to hear his voice utter something into my life.

I want to see his presence.

There's nothing like it.

There's nothing like it.

And if you're here today and this is just kind of going over your head, it's because you haven't experienced it. it and I just want to tell you, I want I want to grab your attention this morning to tell you that it's a beautiful thing to be in a relationship with God.

It's a beautiful thing to go deep into his presence And you know the funny thing is is that while the people noticed Moses' skin radiating, Moses didn't.

He came down the mountain, he didn't even realize it.

I want that level of anointing Where I'm not even I'm not chasing God's glory.

I'm just chasing the God that the glory is connected to.

I don't think he said, okay, you know what?

I'm going to say he made it a daily habit to separate himself from the people.

From the people.

Sometimes we have a hard time doing that.

We want to be around the action.

Sometimes it's hard for us to pull away from the action to spend alone time with God.

Moses did it every Every so often.

He just wanted to be in his presence.

And and he comes down the mountain after 40 days and people are looking at him.

Like something is is is funny about him.

And Moses is probably like, I know I don't got anything on my face.

I didn't eat anything for 40 days.

It's the glory of God that was shining on his face.

And you know what?

That also tells me that Moses wasn't trying to show off for people.

He wasn't trying to look good for people.

He wasn't trying to look anointed for people.

He wasn't trying to say, look at how gifted I am.

He was just being a man so connected with God that the glory attached itself to him.

So when I say show your face, I don't mean show your face to the church.

I don't mean show your face to the people.

I don't mean show your face to me, to your pastors, to your leaders.

I mean show your face to the Lord.

Let God see something in you.

Let God see the real you so that He can deposit something in you Let this be a reminder today for you to go into your prayer room regularly.

Make it a daily routine to seek God in his presence.

Make your petitions known to him.

Make your prayers known to him.

Worship him.

Cry out to him every day.

The Bible says that God knew Moses Many of us think we know God because we sing about God, we you know we teach about God, we read about God But but for God to know you is a different level of intimacy.

Jesus says on the day of judgment he's gonna separate the the sheep from the goats and And those on his left, he's going to say, depart from me, I never knew you.

I never knew you.

To know in the Hebrew language is the word Yada.

Yada is more than just information of knowledge.

It is deep, intimate knowledge that can only be known through death.

Many of you know my wife, Melissa, but you don't know her like I know her.

I know my wife.

I can tell you what she's thinking.

I can tell you how she's going to react to something.

I can tell you exactly the moment her social battery is drained and she wants to leave.

I know all of these things about her.

That's how God wants to know you, church.

But that type of knowledge is only done by invitation.

It's done by showing yourself to the Lord, lifting up your hands, surrendering everything, and saying, God, search me.

No I said earlier in the former days the Lord would speak to the people through prophets.

He would receive offering through a priest.

That's the old covenant.

That's the we're not under that anymore.

We're here admiring the privilege that Moses had to walk in the glory of God, to be able to see God face to face.

But we can have the same experience that Moses had, and that we can go directly to the Father.

We can come to the altar unhindered without a priest, without a mediator, and lay down our lives at the feet of Jesus.

We can do that.

We can go to him without the need of a pastor.

He hears us.

But some of us walk with Christ as if we are under the old covenant.

I think some people are too afraid of God's glory, man, to be honest.

It's too much for some people.

You're afraid that if you get too close to God, you fear the mission.

You fear the glory of God.

So you play it safe.

And you come to church and you sing the songs and you bring your family but you dare not get involved in ministry.

You dare not get involved in the church You dare not say, yeah, I'll do parking lot.

You dare do none of that because you want to come, hear the songs, hear the word, and leave.

You keep yourself at a distance because that type of glory kind of freaks you out Verse 30 says, Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and they were afraid to come near him.

Boy, I remember as a kid they would say like a prophet was coming to church.

I would spend a week in fasting.

Because what is God gonna say?

What is God gonna say through that?

Some of us fear the glory of God.

Most scholars agree that Israel didn't fear Moses, they feared Yahweh.

The fear of Yahweh was a very real thing in Israel.

The Bible says that when God descended over Mount Sinai for the first time with thunder and lightning and trumpet blasts, the whole camp of Israel trembled.

In fact, they even tell Moses, hey, Moses, you speak to us directly, but don't let God speak to us, because if God speaks to us, we're gonna die toward, we're gonna we're gonna fall to our death.

The Bible says that as Moses entered the thick cloud of God's glory, the people of God stood at a distance from Moses Now the fear of God is a is a something that we can never lose.

I know Pastor Bombie preached on it a couple of weeks ago, but this is not the type of fear changing us so that we can get closer to God You hear what I'm saying?

So when God first revealed himself to Moses, he told Moses to remove his sandals, his filth from himself because he was about to step into holy ground.

So that fear caused Moses to remove something of himself in order to be able to step into God's presence.

It it caused a change in Moses.

That's a healthy type of fear.

An unhealthy type of fear is one that makes you keep your distance because you refuse to change I g I gotta say it again.

Uh I can't say it in Spanish An unhealthy type of fear is one that makes you stay at a distance because you refuse to be the change that God requires you.

So, you know, you refuse to learn how to swim because you're a grown adult and it's silly to take swim lessons with three-year-olds.

And I think this is a great analogy because I know a lot of y'all don't know how to swim.

Y'all are afraid of the water.

And so what do you resolve to do?

I don't know how to swim.

I'll just stay out of the water.

Four feet, five feet, that's good for me.

Don't give me that six feet.

Don't give me that deep end.

I don't need that.

You're still afraid of the water, but the way that you deal with the fear is to stay away from it You can never get into it.

You can never dive.

You can't snorkel without freaking out.

You can't have fun when everybody's in Cancun and they're in the boat and they want to step out of the water.

You you you have you have to stay in the boat.

That's the way that you deal with your fear.

That is an unhealthy way. to deal with the fear of God, to stay away, because I refuse to be the change that He wants me to be.

So I'm just gonna be at a distance here, witnessing the glory of God over there.

And so as a result, we get Christians who are comfortable letting their pastors go neck deep for them while they're barely getting their feet wet.

You got it, Pastor, you got it.

Pray harder, Pastor.

Fast harder, Pastor.

Be anointed.

Preach better, Pastor.

Give me something real, Pastor As a result, you have to have everybody in your life who you know is a prayer warrior pray for you.

Instead of developing your own prayer life with the Lord.

God wants you to get closer.

He wants you to get closer.

He wants you to step into his presence.

He wants you to have that confidence as his child to approach his throne.

There's no need for the veil anymore.

The veil has been torn.

We just sang about it.

You have as much access to God as I do The problem isn't that the glory of God is not accessible.

It's that people are afraid to uncover their face, to let God in.

Tell the person next to you, show your face.

How awesome would it be?

How awesome would it be that anytime we did an altar call, the church came running?

That we had to move back these seats because the glory of God was filling this place.

How awesome would it be?

Where the majority would be those who lift up their voices to God and one accord.

That's where the power of the Holy Spirit comes from.

It's in the praises of his people.

God wants you to get closer.

These songs and go about our day.

No, we're doing something here.

We're fanning the flame of the Spirit of God in this place.

But it requires us to be so confident to approach the throne of God.

Now listen, when I say the word glory, I want you to know what I mean.

Because I know we're at a Pentecostal church and when we say glory, you think of all the Pentecostal stuff.

You think Pastor Ryan wants me to start speaking in tongues and casting out demons, doing all that stuff.

I ain't there yet.

I want to be true to the text, and that's not the glory that the text is talking about 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul breaks it down.

This is his interpretation of Exodus 34.

It's beautiful, but it's also profound.

Here, Paul is defending his ministry as an apostle.

His authority is being questioned, mostly from Jewish sources.

They're trying to discredit Paul as a leader and as a minister, and this is what he tells the church.

It's a little long, but it's important.

You there?

Paul says, such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant.

Not of the letter, but of the spirit.

The letter refers to the law, by the way.

That's the old covenant.

He says, For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

Now, if the ministry of death Carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end.

Will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

Indeed, in this case, what was once What once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it.

For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

Someone say that word, bold.

Not like Moses.

Who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.

But their minds were hardened.

For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because only Christ is taken away.

Yes, to this day, whenever Moses has read A veil lies over their hearts.

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

Now the Lord is a spirit, and when the spirit of the Lord is There is freedom, and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord who is spirits.

You get that?

See, for Paul, the glory that was fading away in Exodus 34 was the glory that caused people to disconnect from the Father.

That was the glory that was being brought to an end where only one man who was a prophet could have an encounter with God.

So here comes 3,000 years later Jesus, the man Jesus, who was known to be prophet, priest, and king, all in one, came to lift The veil, so that we could have communion with the Father once again, so that we could experience the full weight of the glory that Moses saw in his days on that mountain.

And you know what?

Today we don't need a mountain, we don't need a temple.

We don't need a high priest.

We don't need a prophet.

All we need is a heart that is postured towards Christ.

He is a mediator.

He is our priest, and he hears us.

Not only does he hear us, he advocates for us to the Father.

So go to the throne with confidence. confidence man of God go to the throne with confidence woman of God he is here today he is here today he is here to go stand to your feet stand to your feet he is here right now in this place This altar is radiating with the glory of God.

This is the equivalent of Moses going up to Mount Sinai all by himself to have a moment with the Father.

You can have it right here, church.

You can have it right here, church.

In fact, you are being invited by Christ Himself.

He is saying, Come and I will give you rest.

I don't know what the veil is over your face.

But I want you to identify it and I want you to remove it.

It's awkward when you lift up your hands.

It's weird to lift up your hands.

Remove that veil.

Remove the veil of shame that is keeping you from thinking that you aren't enough.

God is saying, I've got you, and I love you, and you are my son, and you are my daughter, and I want to go deeper with you.

I want you to know me, and I want to know you.

Remove the veil and come to the throne of God with confidence. confidence.

I'm gonna do one altar call because I'm not gonna put a gun to your head and and and and and bring you to the altar.

But the glory of God is in this place.

And if you are saying today, man, I want to go deeper with God I don't want to just know of his word.

I want to know him.

I want to have an experience with him.

I want to have an encounter with him.

I want him to speak to me in ways that he's never spoken to me before.

If you want to go deeper with God.

If you want God to know you more the way that he knew Job, out of all the men of the earth, he says, have you considered Job, my servant?

The altars are open.

The glory of God is in this place.

Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church.

Visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org.

If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe or share it with your friends on social media and tag us at mypneumachurch.

Thanks again and God bless.

Well uh