Where Is God's Presence Today? | 12Stone Church

A divided culture needs a united church, and the big C church is bigger than any one local church. The church’s competition is not other churches; the competition is for souls, and the enemy is not each other but the evil one. Jesus did not die for geography or bricks and sticks. Jesus died so God could be with his people, God’s Spirit could be in his people, and the church could become the temple.

Paul’s words to Corinth land like a shock: “you yourselves are God’s temple,” and “you together are that temple.” The temple image means the presence of God has an address. Eden begins the thread as the first temple, a garden where God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. Sin breaks that communion, and a holy God cannot simply ignore unholy people. Yet God’s desire to be near never wavers.

The tabernacle becomes a mobile, temporary Eden, the RV traveling version of the temple. Solomon’s temple becomes a more permanent Eden, with courts and a holy of holies where one man entered one day in one place. The rope around the high priest’s ankle and the bells on his clothes show that the holiness of God is not something to be played with. Israel’s idolatry eventually empties the temple of God’s manifest presence, leaving a place beautiful on the outside but empty on the inside.

Jesus fulfills the temple. John says the Word became flesh and “tabernacled” among humanity. Jesus starts doing temple things in the streets, healing, forgiving sin, and declaring that his body is the temple that will be raised in three days. At the cross, the veil tears from top to bottom, not because mankind fought its way in, but because God opened the way out toward his people.

Pentecost makes believers the temple of the Holy Spirit. The presence of God moves from a place to a person to a people. The church still gathers, but not at the temple; the church gathers as the temple. Awareness of that reality leads to holy reverence. Like a father driving differently when a newborn is in the back seat, the believer’s life changes because someone holy is in the car.

Cultural Christianity treats God’s presence like a car seat, installed on Sunday and removed on Monday. Paul’s question, “Don’t you know?” exposes that forgetfulness. Holiness does not earn God’s presence; holiness responds to God’s presence. Peter’s call in Acts remains simple: repent and be baptized. The empty life, the religious life, and the skeptical life all meet the same Savior, Jesus, who forgives, fills, restores, and makes new.

##

Key Takeaways

• 1. God’s presence moved toward people God’s desire never sits at a distance from sinners. Eden, the tabernacle, the temple, Jesus, Pentecost, and new creation all tell one long story: God makes a way to be near without pretending sin is small. The gospel is not humanity climbing into the holy place; the gospel is God tearing the veil from top to bottom. [19:30]
• 2. Holiness flows from carried presence Paul’s question, “Don’t you know?” exposes forgetfulness, not ignorance alone. The believer does not live clean to lure God close; the believer lives with reverence because the Holy Spirit has already taken up residence. Holiness becomes stewardship of a holy Presence, not performance for religious approval. [26:16]
• 3. Cultural Christianity compartmentalizes holy ground Cultural Christianity acts as if the Spirit can be snapped in and out like a car seat. Sunday reverence becomes Monday recklessness when the temple identity is forgotten. The holy of holies is no longer a room left behind; wherever the believer’s feet land, the presence of God is being carried there. [28:49]
• 4. Beautiful outside can still be empty Herod’s temple warns that impressiveness can hide absence. A thick resume, a polished image, and religious habits can still leave the interior hollow when God’s presence is missing. The mercy of Jesus meets that emptiness not by demanding cosmetic repair, but by filling the life from the inside out. [16:12]
• 5. Baptism boasts about Jesus Baptism is not bragging about a life finally cleaned up. Baptism is an outward expression that the old self has been buried and new life has been received in Christ. Obedience stops waiting for perfect timing when Jesus has already made the sinner clean.
  
  ## [42:27]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [06:45] - A Divided Culture Needs a United Church
• [07:19] - Church Is People, Not Bricks
• [08:10] - God’s Temple and God’s Spirit
• [10:14] - From Genesis to Revelation
• [11:29] - Sin and Exile from Eden
• [12:05] - The Tabernacle as Mobile Eden
• [13:15] - Solomon’s Temple and Holy Fear
• [16:40] - Jesus Fulfills the Temple
• [18:59] - The Veil Torn from Top to Bottom
• [20:05] - The Church Becomes the Temple
• [23:26] - Awareness Leads to Holy Reverence
• [28:49] - Cultural Christianity and Compartmentalized Faith
• [32:31] - Peter’s Call to Repent and Be Baptized
• [40:53] - No Excuses, Come Respond

1. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

1. Acts 2:38

1. John 1:14

1. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

1. In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, what does Paul say believers are, and what does he say dwells in them? [08:07]
2. What examples trace the movement of God’s presence through Scripture—from Eden to the tabernacle, to the temple, to Jesus, and then to the church? [10:14]
3. In John 1:14, what does it mean that the Word “became flesh and dwelt among us,” and how is that connected to the idea of tabernacling? [17:29]
4. According to Acts 2:38, what two responses does Peter call for, and what gift does he say believers will receive? [33:39]

1. Paul asks, “Do you not know?” instead of simply making a statement. What does that suggest about how easily believers forget who they are and whose presence they carry? [26:26]
2. If holiness does not earn God’s presence, but responds to God’s presence, how does that change the way a person thinks about obedience, repentance, and everyday choices? [26:45]
3. The veil was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died. Why does it matter that God opened the way, rather than people forcing their way in? [18:59]
4. A life can be beautiful on the outside but empty on the inside. What are some ways that can happen in a religious life, and why is Jesus the only real answer to that emptiness? [32:31]

1. If the believer’s life is now a temple of the Holy Spirit, where has that truth been easiest to remember lately, and where has it been easiest to forget? [31:03]
2. Some people treat God’s presence like a car seat that gets installed on Sunday and removed on Monday. Where does faith most often get compartmentalized—in traffic, at work, online, at home, with friends, or somewhere else? [28:49]
3. Awareness leads to holy reverence. What is one specific habit, setting, or struggle that would likely change if there were a deeper awareness that God’s presence is being carried into that place? [23:26]
4. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” What part of life is hardest to surrender fully to Jesus right now—speech, relationships, sexuality, time, money, anger, habits, or something else? How could honoring God in that area begin this week? [27:41]
5. Wherever a believer’s feet go, the presence of God is being carried there. What would it look like to carry that presence more intentionally into the workplace, classroom, neighborhood, or home this week? [31:27]
6. “Repent and be baptized” is a simple call. Is there any area where repentance has been delayed, excused, or softened? What would a real turning toward Jesus look like there? [33:39]
7. Baptism is not bragging about finally getting life together; it is boasting about Jesus. If someone has trusted Christ but not been baptized, what has held that step back? If someone has already been baptized, how can that same spirit of obedience keep showing up in daily life? [42:19]