Leon Fontaine - Awareness
Today, I wanna talk about awareness. Awareness. What are you aware of? It's amazing how everybody can walk into one room and different people can be aware of different things. You can have multiple kids in one family and each of them can be aware in life of different things. Example, you can live out this next week and can be very aware of all your weaknesses, all of the problems, all of the issues, people who are against you, people who don't like you. You can be very aware of them. Somebody else can be very aware of the opportunities, how beautiful life is. The people in his life, he can be very aware of all of their goodness, all the great things that they mean to him. Someone else can be very aware of all of their problems, their little idiosyncrasy, the things they don't do for him.
Whatever you are aware of you allow to kind of radiate in your life. It affects your faith. It affects what you believe for, for the future. So much is present in every day of your life that what you are aware of actually becomes "your reality". Someone really believes that so many people are against him and there are. Others believe there are so many people who loves them and there are. Others believe there are so many problems and there are. Others believe there are so many opportunities. I can go on and on and on. Whatever you're aware of, is what you experience. Whatever you're aware of, is what guides your life. And so, we need to be very cognizant of what are we aware of.
And today, I wanna show you something that few people are aware of and that is God's presence. They very quickly move away from being aware of God, to being more aware of problems and issues and weaknesses and their own inabilities to walk perfect and etcetera, etcetera. So I wanna go to a few examples in the Old Testament of men who had an awareness of God in the midst of obstacles and problems and what it did for their life. And what does it mean when we talk about God's presence? Because if you were raised really charismaniac which a lot of us were. You know, then God's presence is a bit of all puff of smoke floating through the church or somebody jumping, jerking, shouting, screaming, God's presence is here. No, you know, that might be a sign of God's presence touching somebody but not really. But what does it mean to be aware of His presence?
So let's dive in and take a look at some of these Scriptures and some of the people in the Bible. Let's take a look at King David. Now, if you know at the story of King David in the Old Testament. He was a young teenage boy. The king of Israel at the time had literally lost his awareness of God's presence and God's greatness for Israel. And so, he became more focused on the enemies around him, more focused on his own ability. And it cost him to lose, lose the kingship that he had and God literally said, "Now, I'm taking it from you and I'm giving it to someone more qualified". Well, this guy wasn't more qualified physically or in skill level but he was much more qualified in awareness. David developed an awareness.
When you study his life, he would write songs and worship God. Even when he became famous. He would talk about his days out with the sheep and how that a lion would try to kill it and he grabbed it by the beard and killed it. How that the bear tried to touch his sheep. He was very aware of God on his life, for his life. And because of that awareness, he would try things, he would walk into situations not in his own strength. Because when you are aware of God's presence, your faith begins to grow. And that's what gives you access, that's what allows you to walk in the power of God. You've got to believe it. When God's presence is on you, you're at rest, you're at peace, because you know no one can take what God is giving. No one's gonna be able to stop what God has promised me and your faith begins to rise.
Now, King David was just a shepherd boy and Samuel came and anointed him as king. And in 1 Samuel 16:13, this is what it says, "Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him, David, in the midst of his brethren and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah". From that day forward the presence of the God didn't go inside of David. It came upon David. Now, if you know of the, any of the Old Testament and the things that David did. It's astounding. Now, the presence of God is on David and he's very aware that God's presence is on him. Shortly after this, he's running some food to his brothers Eliab and Shammah, some of the other guys who are all in the army and he's a teenager.
So dad sends him with cheese and bread and says, "Go, feed your brothers and bring me some news what's going on in the battle against the Philistines". David gets out there just in time to hear Goliath get up and holler, "Send the man to fight me. Whoever wins then the other country becomes their slaves". So rather than everybody fighting two guys go at it. Now, Goliath was between 11 to 13 feet tall, somewhere in there. We know he's at least 11. I'm sorry 9. He's at least 9 feet tall but most say 11-13. We know through the weight of his spear. If you ever watched shotput on TV, where this big guy's hurl this hunk of iron and that shot put is 16 pounds, just the tip of his spear was 16 pounds. He wasn't just the big old blob guy walking around. This guy had his muscle on, muscle and strength. And the shaft of the spear that went into that iron point was like a weaver's beam. It was probably like a fence post.
So do you see those fence post, that's how long and it was probably the same weight as the head of that spear. That is 32 pounds and that's the spear that would come hurling through the air. And so, this was Goliath and everybody was petrified of him. The soldier went out every day and every day Goliath would walk out and say, "Send a man". With his big old lungs, his voice would have been so low. He would just roar, echoing down there. And it says they were all in fear including Saul who was one of the biggest men. He was head and shoulders above even everybody that he was serving, that he was serving as their king. He was in hiding. Everybody was hiding. Nobody wanted to fight this guy. They were so aware of how big he was. They were so aware of him that they even measured every piece of armor and where it went. They measured his spear. They measured his sword. They'd measured the protection on his legs and the brass helmets. Every, they just noticed everything about this guy. They were so aware of the enemy.
So aware that they could die if they fight him. And this awareness just permeated the whole army. I want you to know that when you're around people who are aware of certain things, it doesn't mean that what they're aware of isn't there. It just means, who wants to sit around aware of all the problems all the time. In the midst of all the problems there's always gonna be somebody who sees the opportunity. In the midst of all the issues, there's always gonna be someone that sees there's an opportunity. When you are aware of God's presence, and if God's presence is upon you. We'll deal with that a little bit later in this message. Then His presence is before you, behind you, beside you, protects you. He's presence means his ability.
So here's the entire army going, "Woo". And here's David going, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine"? And the word "circumcise" back in the Old Testament was a sign that you were in a covenant relationship with God. This is what David noticed. He knows he's a Philistine. He knows his god is not the God Jehovah. And so, he calls him an uncircumcised Philistine, meaning you don't even have a deal with God. I do. I'm gonna cut his head off. Let me go. Let me go. I'm gonna cut his head off. I wanna take him out. A teenager. What's different about this guy? He's aware of God's presence. Everyone else is aware of how big is the giant. There somebody sitting here right now who is so aware of how bad it is in your career area. Someone else is so aware of how little you've been doing in career and how much little money is coming in.
You're so aware. You've become aware of every issue, every problem, every unpaid bill, everything, everybody around you says. And whatever you're aware of, is gonna dominate your life. It's gonna influence your faith. This awareness, you've got to be able and God's Word will show us how to become aware of Him. His presence. The story goes on that David says, "What's gonna be done for the guy that can kill this guy"? And actually, what the king had promised was tax freedom forever for his family. Now, that be cool. Now, if it's a Canadian that be cool. Okay? And then, he promised this incredible amount of money and wealth and he promised his beautiful daughter in marriage.
So every single guy there had like three reasons to go out and kick this giant's butt. Nobody rose to the occasion. You know, even their reward of getting ahead. Even the reward of more money. Even the reward of finances and house and cars won't be enough when everything around you is negative and the people around you are negative. You see, did you know that awareness, an entire country can become so aware of their problems that they'll move into recession. People will hang on to their money. We allow some guy in a tie and some girl with a 300-dollar haircut to get on TV and look into camera and tell us the things are going down. Who says things are going down? Oh, a little nerd with a bowtie sitting in an office somewhere. Really? Yet, we will listen to this people and an entire country's awareness of problems and issues will rise up, until they accepted, believed in it, and locked into it. But they'll always be somebody who never goes with the status quo. Who never believes what's going on around them and they'll succeed even as non-Christians.
But the advantage that we have, David is bringing it up. He's saying, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Who is this guy? No covenant with God. No deal with God. Me, I've got a covenant with God. Me, His presence is upon me. Let me at him". And Saul heard about this said, "Bring me that guy". They brought this teenager up to him and he started telling him how he'd killed the bear, killed the lion. He's gonna go take this guy out. And well, Saul had nobody else so send the teenager. And he took him out. When you go into the Word of God, you will notice the men and the women that God uses, He always has to begin to take them through a teaching and a process of becoming more aware of Him than what's going on around them.
In Genesis 39:1-6. It's a story of another young man named Joseph. Joseph has gone through some real crap. His brothers were jealous of him. They threw him into a pit, sold him to slavery. The worst thing you could ever do. And they brought him into Egypt and sold him to one of the top guards of the Pharaoh. The Bible talks about Joseph in Genesis 39:1-6. And we need to read this, because there are those of you that are here that are believing God financially, career wise. Maybe it's marriage, home, healing. I don't care what area that you need God to show up in your life on. But listen to what it says about Joseph. "And Joseph was brought down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man".
Okay, the dude's a slave. Hello, he's a slave. He's got nothing to his name. He's a prosperous man. What in the world is he talking about? He's not talking about what he owns. He's talking about what he is. He has the presence of God. The presence of God is upon this boy and because of that there's nothing. He's like a cork. You can bury a cork as deep in the ocean as you want. It's always coming up. The presence of God will always take you up. Always make you an overcomer. Always make you win over everything in life. And here it's saying, and he was a prosperous man, not in the world's standards.
But now it says, "And he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favored".
When an unsaved man can look at a guy and go, "Wow, what is he seeing"? He's seeing luck. He's seeing opportunity. He's seeing everything he put his hands to prosper. He's seeing a peace and a confidence about this guy. That others can fake it but this guy it's the real deal. He just walks into a situation. Let's plant this field out. Let's take, clear this grapes over here. He was hiring and firing and training and equipping and deciding. And everywhere he went, whatever his hands touched, it will just prosperous. Why? Because he's a prosperous man. Why is he a prosperous man? Because God is with him. When you understand the presence of God is with you. We have lost this understanding as Christians. That God is with me. Of course, I'm not gonna fail. God is with me, I'm gonna win. God is with me, I've got great peace. I've got great joy.
Exodus 33:12-17, it's about Moses. Moses had the job of leading a couple million slaves with slave thinking, slave mentality, out of Egypt, out of bondage into their own country. Moses says to the Lord, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. He wants direction from God. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people". The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest".
Have you ever meet a troubled person who's trying to succeed? They'll succeed but they're troubled, anxiety. Anxiousness cause a sickness, disease, you know, and they're unhappy, their relationships breakdown. They're always focus on work because if they're not focus on work and one thing gets away they're gonna go down. They're just freaking out all the time. But when God's presence is on you, you're at rest, you're at peace. Because you know no one can take what God is giving. No one's gonna be able to stop what God has promised me. And your faith begins to rise as you are aware of the presence of God upon your life. He says my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us". If Your presence is not on me, I ain't doing it. Canadian. "How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth"? And the Lord said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you've asked, because I'm pleased with you and I know you by name".
This is an incredible principle right here. In the Old Testament, God's people were the Jews. In the new covenant, God's people are all those who are born again. I'm not knocking the Jews. Don't take it, I don't have time to teach on that right now. I'm just saying that you as a born-again believer your father is Abraham and that means God wants the world to see a distinguishing line between you and them. He wants them to look at you and see blessed. Blessed means happy, fortunate, and to be envied. Now, where would that look like? In prosperity, in healing, in peace, in joy and your peace and you knowing God so you're just excited happy with life.
When you are aware of His presence. When you are aware of the blessing of God on your life. And you must learn to prac-, as a Christian, you must learn to practice that presence or to seek Him out every day through His Word, through prayer, thank Him for His presence, be very aware of His presence. 1 Chronicles 16:27, says, "Glory and honor are in his presence, strength and gladness are in his place". When you're aware of His presence, you become happy even when things aren't working out, because you know nothing can stop you. Because the presence of God is with you. Moses would go anywhere. He take on the entire Egyptian army. Which was the most successful army in the then known world. They were the largest most wicked but powerful nation and he would take them on. One man with a bunch of slaves. If you knew God's presence was with him.