In His Presence
Brian Bloye
Part of Draw Near
January 30, 2022

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Message Notes

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” —James 4:8


Atonement = reconciliation


“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” —James 4:8


What Will We Find in God’s Presence?

  • A Father who listens to us and answers.


“Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.” —1 John 5:14-15


  • A Father who offers grace and mercy when we need it the most.


“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” —Hebrews 4:16


“Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.” —2 Corinthians 1:3


“He is the one that multiplies compassionate mercies to his needful, wayward, messy, fallen, wandering people.” —Dane Ortlund


Grace – the free and unmerited favor of God. Oxford Dictionary


“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” —2 Corinthians 12:9


“God’s sufficient grace is the inexhaustible supply of goodness that we cannot earn and do not deserve – but that keeps on coming.” —Tony Evans


  • A Savior who is interceding for us.


“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” —Hebrews 7:25


“To the uttermost means that God’s forgiving, redeeming, restoring touch reaches down into the darkest crevices of our souls, those places where we are most ashamed, most defeated. More than this: those crevices of sin are themselves the places where Christ loves us the most. His heart willingly goes there. His heart is most strongly drawn there. He knows us to the uttermost, and he saves us to the uttermost because his heart is drawn out to us to the uttermost. We cannot sin our way out of his tender care.” —Dane Ortlund


“Christ turns the Father’s eyes to His own righteousness to avert his gaze from our sins.” —John Calvin


  • A Savior who serves as our advocate with the Father.


“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” —1 John 2:1


“Satan had the first word, but Jesus had the last. Satan must be speechless after a plea of our Advocate.” —John Bunyan


  • A Spirit who helps us as we pray.


“Lord, teach us to pray…” —Luke 11:1


“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” —John 14:26


  • A Spirit who prays for us when we don’t know what to say.


“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” —Romans 8:26-27 (NLT)


“For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” —Ephesians 2:18


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