One acorn produces a tree that produces ten million acorns in its lifetime. And all that power and potential is in that one little acorn. That’s who God is. God is the God of increase. He’s a multiplier, and He wants to do that in you and through you. John 15:5, from the Passion Translation. Jesus said, “I am the sprouting vine, and you’re my branches, and you live in union with me as your source. Fruitfulness will stream from within you. But when you live separated from me, you are powerless.” For that flow of increase, that flow of fruitfulness, to flow through us and work through us, we have to be connected to Him. He is our vine. He is our source. Giving, which is planting seed, originates in the heart and streams outwardly from within you, and then God brings the increase. Second Corinthians 9:10 in the New King James Version: “Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you’ve sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.” So we give to our Lord, our Father God, knowing He will bring the increase, and we trust Him to do that.
As you prepare to give today, if you’re on our live stream, go to our website, EmergeInternationalChurch.org, and there’s a Give button at the top right you can click, and there are several ways you can give. If you are here live with us, there’s a QR code in the corner of your bulletin you can scan, or checks or cash are also accepted, and Pastor Conia is prepared to receive from you. Let’s bow our heads in prayer as we pray over our offering. Father, we thank You for this opportunity we have to partner with You in seeing Your kingdom come by sowing seed into Your kingdom. You are the God of increase, the God of multiplication, and I thank You that that power to increase and multiply works in us and through us as we give and sow seed into Your kingdom. You take it and multiply it through us, and not only through us — You multiply it back to us. We thank You for bringing seed to us to sow. We thank You for an abundance, an overflow, so we can sow into every good work, and we praise You for that today. We give You praise and glory for it all, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Father, we thank You for this day. As we prepare to share Your word, we ask You, Lord, just to give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand, so that we walk away with all that You have for us today, that we may go forth and represent You well in the earth. Thank You for Your presence here with us now, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
We finally got it — we’re finally here. We solved the tech issue. God gave Pastor Conia wisdom in how to do that. So we’re glad everyone is here with us. We welcome everyone, and I’m excited. This is a big week for our family. Next Sunday is my mom’s birthday, and she will be ninety years old. So we’re going to take a day toward the end of the week and go over and spend time with her and celebrate. I just want to say: Mom, this is your birthday week. Enjoy yourself. My youngest brother lives right there with her, so make sure he gets you out and does whatever you want to do. If I was there, I would do that. Amen.
We’ve been talking about the power of God’s presence. Brother Kevin Williams spoke here three or four weeks ago, and he inspired this. He read a verse, and it just set me on fire as I studied it and went back and looked over it. So today we’re talking about the power of His presence: He will never leave you. The powerful presence of Christ is one of the greatest promises we have as believers. Jesus not only saves us, but also promises us that He will be with us always. Deuteronomy 31:8 in the New King James Version: “And the Lord, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” The Lord Himself — every time I read that, “the Lord, He is the one.” The Lord Himself goes before us, and He will be with us. He will never leave us. One version says, don’t be afraid and don’t be discouraged. Don’t let the enemy beat you up. God is with you. No matter where you are, what’s going on, God is right there with you. He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will never leave you, nor will He forsake you. So we’re focusing today on the part of this promise that says He will never leave you.
The word translated “not” can also be translated as “never,” and “never” makes the promise significantly stronger. The phrase is not simply, He will not leave you, but He will never leave you. The emphasis is on the absolute permanence of God’s presence and His covenant faithfulness. God will never leave you. He’ll never forsake you. He is always here. He is always true to His word, to His covenant to us. I don’t care what’s going on in your life or what you’re facing or what happens — God’s right there. You can look to Him. He is always here.
That phrase starts with the word He. We’ve looked at this in depth the last couple of weeks, but here’s some more. He — the promise begins with God Himself. It doesn’t begin with you or anything you do or have done or need to do. The promise begins with Him. He is your strength. It’s not your strength. It’s not your circumstances. It’s not your ability to remain faithful. He is the one who takes responsibility for the promise. It’s the promise He made, the decision He made — not only for Israel, but for all those who are children of God, all believers. God repeatedly reveals Himself as the God who stays. You want to know who’s got your back? It’s the Lord. It’s God the Father. It’s Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. It’s the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Guide. He is with us always. God shows Himself throughout Scripture as one who stays. To Jacob He said, “I am here with you and will watch over you wherever you go.” To Moses He said, “I will be with you.” To Joshua He said, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.” To Israel, through Isaiah, He said, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” I may have said this before, but that phrase — do not fear, don’t be afraid — is found 365 times in Scripture. God has given us a “do not fear” for every day of the year. Don’t be afraid. God is with you.
God’s faithfulness, His fullness, all of who He is, is expressed through His continuing presence with us. He wraps us, surrounds us, covers us head to toe, front to back, in His presence. He goes before us. He comes behind us. He’s all around us. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He doesn’t send His people somewhere and tell them, all right, go figure it out, see what you can come up with. No, He says, come on, let’s go with them. The name of God, Jehovah Sabaoth, is mentioned more than any other name of God in Scripture, over 270 times. Jehovah Sabaoth is the God of angel armies. God said, let Us go with them. It’s like He says, okay, come on, angels, I’ve assigned you to Conia — let’s follow her today. Pastor Conia says she has the elite legion of angels following her around, so it takes special forces to go with her. She said they get hazard pay. God doesn’t send us out somewhere without being with us. He is right there with us all the time.
So He will — that second word in the phrase, “will,” points to God’s determination and certainty. It isn’t a possibility or a hope. God declares what He has resolved to do. This is a surety. You don’t have to wonder about it: is God here with me today? No question — He is. You can count on what God says. If He said it, it is so. As we stated last week, God is not saying, I hope to be with you, nor is He saying, I’ll be with you if everything goes well. He’s declaring an unchanging reality: I will be with you. Let that get down in you. He is with you.
Hebrews 13:5-6 echoes what we read in Deuteronomy 31:8: “Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” What if man did do something to me? God is more than enough. He’ll bring me back. He’ll heal me. He’ll restore me. He’ll give back to me what was taken from me. What if you got shot? I’ll be in a much better place. God will see that I’m taken care of. God always, always, always is there to help us. All we have to do is ask. The certainty rests not on Joshua’s faithfulness, but on God’s faithfulness. God’s presence is grounded in His covenant and His character. He is faithful to us. You have a covenant with the Most High God. He’s made a covenant with you, and He said, I’m going to honor it. I’m going to be there with you. I’ll never leave you.
And that brings us to the word never. He will never. The word “never” removes all exceptions. There is no circumstance, no season, no failure, no transition, no difficulty in which God suddenly says, all right, now you’re on your own, hope you make it. No. God says, we’re doing this together. I’m here with you. “Never” means not today, not tomorrow, not in the wilderness, not in the battle, not in the transition, not in the uncertainty, not when you are weak, not when you cannot see the way forward. Whatever the circumstance or situation, God says, I’m right here. I’m not going to leave you. I’m right here with you in this.
I just read something in a book a friend of ours wrote. She and her husband did missions work in over sixty-five nations for over thirty-seven years. They were going across the border to do something down in Mexico, and sometimes when you’re doing that, if the guards see what you’re carrying to take to people, they’ll say, you got a lot — what are you going to donate to me? So they were praying for favor, and this gentleman came up and was telling them what they had to do and what they had to sign, and he disappeared to talk to someone. All of a sudden, a really nice-looking white-haired gentleman steps up with their paperwork and smiles and says, “Here, sign this and you can be on your way. Have a great day.” He was so kind, helped them so much, and sent them on their way. They said, when we come back through customs, we’re going to find out who he is so we can tell him thank you personally. So when they came back, they stopped, went to the person in charge, and described the man who had helped them. And he looked at them and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We don’t have anybody who works here who even looks like that.” They knew it was an angel. They had been entertaining angels unaware. God made a way, and it didn’t cost them anything extra. My point is this: God is always with us.
Not when you can see the way forward — a lot of times God doesn’t show us the way because He doesn’t want us trying to fix it or make it better or mess it up. Conia and I have a rule now because of our experience: we don’t argue with Siri. If the GPS says this is the best way to go, that’s probably the best way to go. Conia’s pretty good at that; I still test it sometimes. But how many times have we done that with God? Oh yeah, that looks good, Lord. What if we did it this way? What if I got there an hour earlier? No. Conia and I have had two times in the last week when we were sitting with someone, talking to them, and realized God put us there for that moment. Two in the last three days. God is always there with you, working for you and through you.
The promise isn’t that you will always understand or feel God’s presence. It is that God’s presence will never cease. Whether I feel it or not, I know it. God’s presence is not determined by my perception of His presence. God’s presence is determined by the fact He said, I am there. I will be there. I will never leave. We may feel alone, but we’re not alone. You ever felt that way with somebody you’re close to, your spouse? Sometimes Conia and I are here working — she’s in her office all day, I’m in my office all day — and it’s like we’ve been in separate worlds, although we’re right here in the same place. And I will tell her, I missed you today, because we didn’t have that interaction. Well, God is always with you, and that’s the other thing: God wants to interact with you every day. You can talk to Him while you’re driving, walking, washing the dishes — do you still wash the dishes? Every now and then I do — or loading or unloading the dishwasher. Spend time with Him. Hang out with Him. God does not leave you.
That is the difference between the experience of God’s presence and the promise of God’s presence. Sometimes we experience His presence. We sense it. We feel it. We see it working. But sometimes we just know, because God has promised it. He’s here. He’s with us. God will never leave. To “leave” in this context carries the idea of abandoning, forsaking, or letting go. So God’s promise is deeper than “I’ll be around when you need me.” God’s promise is: I will never abandon you. I will never let go of you. I will never forsake you. God does not abandon His people. God doesn’t begin the journey with us and then withdraw when the journey becomes difficult.
Deuteronomy 31 occurs at a major transition. Moses is about to die, and Joshua will lead Israel into the promised land. Humanly speaking, this could have been a moment of tremendous uncertainty: what are we going to do now? The people Joshua was leading weren’t at the Red Sea when their ancestors crossed it coming out of Egypt, but they were standing there looking at a Jordan River in flood stage, going, okay, how are we going to get over there? Essentially God says: the person who has been leading you may change, but I am never leaving. I’m going to be right here. God’s presence is more dependable than a leader, a circumstance, a location, an emotion, or even our understanding of what He is doing. In the Hebrew, the idea is stronger than simply “God won’t go away.” The expression “He will never leave you” carries the idea of not loosening one’s grip, not abandoning, not relinquishing one’s claim or responsibility. God does not walk away from His covenant people. God’s presence is the reason you don’t have to be overcome by your circumstances. You may be going through a challenging time. It may be tough, but God is right there with you. He will see you through. He will never leave you.
And this is the part where it becomes personal. He’s not just talking about Israel here — it’s true for all of us as His people. But He’s also saying this is for you, personally. God’s covenant of faithfulness becomes personal. In Christ — and that is where we are as believers — we have a covenant with God our Father. In the New Testament, God’s presence is no longer understood merely as God being around His people; through Christ and the Holy Spirit, God comes to dwell within His people. He’s taking up residence within us. First Corinthians 6:19, the Amplified: “Do you not know that your body is the temple, the very sanctuary of, the Holy Spirit who lives within you, the Spirit whom you have received as a gift from God? You are not your own.” Have you ever thought about that? You’re a temple. A sanctuary for the Holy Spirit. Makes me want to take care of my body a little more — I’ve got to stop eating those little cookies Pastor Conia puts out. It is Sunday, so it’s a day of grace. Notice how we can justify anything — that’s a different sermon. But for the believer, God’s presence is not just external. God Himself has made His dwelling place within us. Every day you get up and walk around with God within you, the Holy Spirit within you, the Lord Jesus Christ within you. He is with you. He is on this journey with you. The Old Testament promise — I will be with you, I will never leave you — led to the New Testament reality: I will be in you.
If you put all four of these ideas together, “He will never leave you” means God has permanently committed Himself to remain with you and will never abandon you, regardless of what you encounter along the way. And there’s an important distinction here. God does not promise that you will never experience circumstances that make you feel alone or abandoned or lost. What He promises is that you will never actually be abandoned. It doesn’t matter what you’re feeling — He’s still there. It doesn’t matter what the enemy is telling you — God is still right there with you.
And something I’ve thought about as I’ve read this: it isn’t true just for you. It’s true for your family. As a parent and grandparent, it’s true for my kids and grandkids. I can know for sure God is with them. God is with them today, wherever they are. He’s with my mom. He’s with my aunts and my uncles, my cousins. God is with all of us. He never leaves us or forsakes us. The reality of His presence is stronger than the perception of His absence.
And this is why “never” is so precious. If God said, I will be with you for a while, we would always wonder, when is that going to end? If He said, I will be with you when things are going well, difficult seasons would look even worse. But He says He will never, never, never leave us. There is no expiration date on His presence. No season of life can cancel it. No valley can terminate it. No transition can interrupt it. No uncertainty can remove it. He will never leave you. And when you carry that promise into the New Testament, it becomes even more breathtaking, because Jesus says, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” — Matthew 28:20. “Never” in Deuteronomy becomes “always” in the words of Jesus. The God who says He will never leave you ultimately reveals Himself in Christ as the God who says, I am with you always. This is the profound security contained in these five words: He will never leave you. I encourage you to take that and meditate on it. Think through it this week. God is with you. He will never leave you. He is always with you, whatever you’re facing.
Let’s bow our heads. Father, I thank You for this great promise You’ve given us: You will never leave us. You are always with us. No matter what we’re going through, what we’re facing, what’s coming, what’s been — You are right there with us. You are in us. You surround us with Your goodness and favor, as with a shield. You shield us, Lord, with goodness and favor, and we thank You and praise You for it. Thank You, Lord, for showing us the way, directing our steps in line with Your will and purpose, so that we can go forth and encourage others, knowing that You are right there with us and You’re right there with them. Thank You, Father, for giving us this word of encouragement today. In Jesus’ name, amen. I hope you have a great week, and I believe Pastor Conia is coming right now with the closing thought and prayer. God bless you.
So we did have technical difficulties this morning, and the message speaks exactly to what I was going through: okay, God is with me. And the vision that came to me as I was sitting there — I just had to stop. Just let everything settle. You know I love movies, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the one with the lovely Sean Connery, who plays his dad in that movie. They’re in peril and they’re panicking, and he says: if we just sit down and take a breath, the answer will come to me. And he sits down, and the fireplace opens and does all the things. But often, if we just sit down, the answer will come — and it really is the Holy Spirit coming to us, giving us the answer. So Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know.” That’s what we’re talking about. That’s when you know He hasn’t left you — when you stop and you get still. So I got still, and I knew that He hadn’t left me, and life would be grand, and we got the live stream going, and there it is. Immediately in the moment, the message is always good: be still, and know that God is with you. Father, thank You for this day. Thank You that we just have to get quiet and get still so that we can actually hear what You’re trying to tell us, and You will reveal all. We love You, Lord. We praise You. We thank You for this day. We bless everybody in the sound of our voice with Your favor, Your blessing, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen. Y’all have a great week.
