Drawing near to God starts with you: as James 4 teaches, when you come close to Him, He comes close to you. In this second message of the series, the speaker shows the difference between God being everywhere and God’s presence being real and tangible in your life, and he challenges believers to want His presence more than His performance. From a vision of mountains rising across Wisconsin to Moses at the burning bush, the message continues from Drawing Near to God #1 — A Vision of Rising Mountains.
Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps for seeking the presence of God this week.
Sermon at a Glance
This message from NTC Ministries was posted on December 16, 2025, during the Christmas season, and runs about 55 minutes. The speaker explains that he teaches in series because God teaches line upon line, here a little, there a little (Isaiah 28:10–11). Constant review brings greater revelation, and he is believing that the church’s eyes are being opened to the kingdom of heaven.
He links this series to the previous one and its key verse, 2 Corinthians 13:14: the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit. The service closes with an invitation to receive Christ and with communion.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | The pastor of NTC Ministries (not named in the recording) |
| Series | Drawing Near to God (part 2 of 9) |
| Main text | James 4:7–10 and 1 Chronicles 16:27–31 |
| Key theme | Seek the presence of God, not only His performance |
| Length | About 55 minutes, ending in communion |
Drawing Near to God Through Jesus, Our Apostle
We celebrate the baby in the manger, the speaker says, but Jesus came in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4). It was not a pleasant time for the religious leaders. As he tells it, twelve years before Jesus came, Rome took away the Jewish leaders’ authority to carry out capital punishment, a part of the law they had enforced.
When Jesus said, “I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18), the disciples never asked what a church was. The speaker explains why: Rome built the ekklesia, sending an apostle into a territory to negotiate a truce. Rome could have crushed anyone, but it wanted the people.
The more a city became like Rome, the more Rome invested in it. The speaker turns the old saying around: when in heaven, do as heaven does, because there are more benefits living that way. Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15), and He Himself is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1), sent to negotiate a truce with mankind.
In Ezekiel 36:20–23, God says His name had been profaned. The law had come through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). The angels announced good tidings of great joy to all people, and peace and goodwill toward men (Luke 2:10–14).
The leaders had no mercy, but Jesus healed them all. “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father,” He said (John 14:9). That is what it means to pray, “Hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9): let people see who God really is. Calling a tornado that destroys a trailer park an act of God, the speaker says, profanes His name. Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38).
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The speaker stresses that our destination is not Jesus; it is the Father. Jesus is the way there, the Mediator telling everyone that God loves them and is hungry for fellowship with them.
A Vision of Mountains Across Wisconsin
A couple of weeks before this message, the speaker says, the Lord gave him a vision. He was lifted up until he could see the whole state of Wisconsin, and mountains began springing up everywhere, from just below the church and up through the north. Some were not very high, some were very high, and they spread across the whole state.
That stood out, he notes, because Wisconsin’s highest point, Timms Hill, rises only about 500 feet above its base. In Scripture, he teaches, mountains always picture people drawing near to God. Moses went up Mount Sinai to commune with God. Jesus went up a high mountain and was transfigured, His clothes shining whiter than anything ever seen (Matthew 17:1–2).
The psalmist lifted his eyes to the hills, because his help comes from the Lord (Psalm 121:1–2). We need that now, amid chaos. Jesus spoke of wars and rumors of wars, and said lawlessness would abound and the love of many would grow cold (Matthew 24:6–12).
The answer is righteousness, which he describes as being upright: grace and truth give us a backbone to be strong in the Lord (Ephesians 6:10). That does not happen just because we name the name of Jesus. It happens as we draw near.
Presence, Not Performance
Many people say Christianity is a relationship, not a religion, the speaker observes, but have no idea what that relationship looks like. He uses marriage to explain. If your wife had to leave for a month to care for a family member, would your heart break because no one was cooking and doing laundry, or because she was not there? If your husband were gone, would you miss him, or miss the snow being shoveled?
That, he says, is many Christians with God. Why isn’t God healing? Why isn’t God doing what I want? They know only His performance, not His presence. If they understood His presence, their hearts would break when they did not have its fullness. The table below follows the contrast he draws throughout the sermon.
| Performance-centered faith | Presence-centered faith |
|---|---|
| Misses what God does, like missing a spouse’s chores | Misses God Himself, like missing a spouse’s company |
| Comes to God only when something is needed | Comes to God to be with Him |
| Heart breaks over an unanswered wish | Heart breaks over the absence of His presence |
| Expects the pastor to do it all, like a priest of religion | Builds a living relationship with God personally |
| Measures answers by how much time has passed | Believes it is received when it is asked |
He then reads James 4:7–10: submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. The initiative, he points out, is ours. God never leaves us nor forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5). But there is a difference between His omnipresence, that He is everywhere, and His manifest presence, when His love, compassion and goodness become tangible and real in your life. We are meant to carry that presence.
Moses was tending Jethro’s flock when he saw a bush burning but not consumed (Exodus 3:1–5). Only when he turned aside to look did God speak and call it holy ground. Had Moses walked by, the speaker says, God would not have said a word. Afterward the sign of God’s leading was His presence: a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night (Exodus 13:21).
James continues: wash your hands, purify your hearts, you double-minded, lament and mourn, and humble yourselves, and He will lift you up. When our loyalty is divided, the speaker says, we are not grieved when His presence is missing. We simply go to church, go home and go back to work. He compares God’s backing to Philippi, which Acts calls a colony (Acts 16:12). Cities that became like Rome were backed and protected by Rome. That is what God wants for those who draw near.
Everyone needs a personal relationship with God, he adds. His own children grew up in a pastor’s home, yet each had to draw near to God for themselves, and today all of them serve the Lord. A pastor is not a priest of religion who does everything for you.
When the Heart Breaks for His Presence
“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18). The speaker has the church tell God, “Lord, I want your presence.” No matter where you are with the Lord, he says, you need fresh relationship, just as a marriage does. He says his heart still patters when he sees his wife, Pam, after nearly 52 years of marriage. It takes work. It takes drawing near.
He recalls planning to try advice from a marriage seminar a few months later, so it would not look rehearsed, and then forgetting. His lesson: just obey God. He also says truth has no expiration date. We often use time to judge whether a prayer was answered, but Jesus said to believe that you receive when you pray (Mark 11:24).
“The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart” (Psalm 34:18). He draws near when your heart breaks for His presence, not for an unmet wish. The speaker explains that sovereign means existing without any outside help. God needs nothing from us, yet He created us, drew near to us and sent His Son as Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). He wants your presence.
God created Adam for fellowship, not chores. When Adam hid, afraid because he was naked, God asked who told him (Genesis 3:8–11). Having lost God’s presence, Adam began to look at problems and shortcomings. God is not out to scold you; He will perfect what concerns you (Psalm 138:8), and He is not a father calling a child to clean the garage. He wants you with Him, and His mercy is as high as the heavens (Psalm 103:11).
David understood. The ark of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence, had been taken by the Philistines. When David brought it back to Jerusalem, he danced, because the presence was returning (2 Samuel 6:14–23). Michal, Saul’s daughter, despised him for it and remained barren all her life. Later, when the ark was in the temple, the glory filled the house so that the priests could not stand to minister (2 Chronicles 5:13–14).
Four Gifts Found in His Presence
David’s song of thanksgiving says, “Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and gladness are in His place” (1 Chronicles 16:27–31). The speaker reads it as glory, honor, strength and gladness, four things that will revolutionize a life. Many problems, he adds, are God allowing us to come back to His presence, which is what repent means: change direction and go toward God. The table follows his explanation of each word.
| Gift | Meaning as taught | Example he gives |
|---|---|---|
| Glory | Beauty, grandeur, an excellency that shines on and reflects off people | Moses’ face shone after meeting God |
| Honor (hadar) | Esteemed, valued, favored; to overflow like a river over its bank | Thirteen strangers drawn to him in a grocery store |
| Strength (oz) | To stand firm, stable and secure, with strength in boldness | Rome’s strength did not need to crush anyone |
| Gladness | To rejoice, and also to be joined to | In His presence is fullness of joy |
When Moses came down from the mountain, the people asked him to cover his face (Exodus 34:29–35). 2 Corinthians 3:7–11 says that if the ministry of death was glorious, the ministry of the Spirit is much more glorious. God has promised us more than Moses, the speaker says, but it takes His presence.
Honor answers a deep human need; many brag or do dangerous stunts to be admired. He recalls fasting and praying for three weeks before a convention with Bob Yandian of Tulsa. Shopping for an apple to use as an object lesson, he found 13 people gathering in his aisle, saying there was something about him. He shared the Lord, and all 13, including two store workers, gave their lives to Christ. The goal, he says, is “Your kingdom come” on earth (Matthew 6:10), not only heaven one day.
He quotes Brother Lawrence, a French Christian of the 1600s who wrote The Practice of the Presence of God: “My God, since you are with me, and since by your will I must occupy myself with external things, please grant me the grace to remain with you in your presence.” The speaker adds that Brother Lawrence said the more we know God, the more we will desire to know Him.
Strength makes you secure without needing to show force, the speaker says. Gladness means being joined to the Lord: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). Psalm 62:1–2 adds that my soul silently waits for God; He only is my rock, and I shall not be greatly moved. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), and the God of hope fills us with all joy and peace in believing (Romans 15:13).
Coming Boldly to the Table
The speaker invites anyone who has lost intimacy with God, or never knew Him, to pray. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). He leads a prayer asking Jesus to come in and usher the person into the Father’s presence.
You do not need to get your life straight first, he says. Come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). God is the one who changes us. Paul received the Lord’s Supper from the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:23–26), and the speaker connects that to Paul drawing near to God and being caught up into the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2–4).
Communion is open to every believer, not only members (Hebrews 12:23). Practicing the presence of God can happen at work, at home, even in dreams, because He gives His beloved sleep (Psalm 127:2). He closes by blessing the people and urging them to seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at God’s right hand (Colossians 3:1).
Practicing His Presence This Week
The speaker asks whether the church will spend time every day telling the Lord, “I want to draw closer to you.” Here are practical steps drawn from this drawing near to God message:
- Take the first step. James 4 puts the initiative on us: turn aside like Moses and draw near.
- Miss Him, not just His help. Ask whether your prayers are about His presence or only about what you need.
- Carry Him into your day. Remember His goodness at work and at home, as Brother Lawrence did.
- Stop timing your answers. When you pray, believe you have received, whether it shows in two days or two years.
- Help your family find Him for themselves. Parents prepare children for the day they draw near to God on their own.
- Come as you are. Approach the throne of grace boldly instead of waiting until your life is straight.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 Line upon line: why he teaches in series
- 1:05 The fullness of time
- 2:05 Rome, the ekklesia and the apostle
- 4:17 Jesus negotiates a truce with mankind
- 6:22 Hallowed be Your name
- 7:30 No one comes to the Father but through Him
- 8:42 A vision of mountains across Wisconsin
- 9:40 Mountains: Sinai, Transfiguration, Psalm 121
- 12:04 Presence versus performance
- 13:18 James 4: draw near to God
- 14:28 Moses turns aside to the burning bush
- 17:44 A personal relationship with God
- 20:18 Fresh relationship and marriage seminars
- 22:28 Psalm 34: near to the brokenhearted
- 23:49 A sovereign God who wants your presence
- 26:32 David brings back the ark
- 28:45 1 Chronicles 16: glory and honor
- 31:11 Glory changed Moses’ face
- 33:57 Honor: to be esteemed
- 35:16 Thirteen saved in a grocery store
- 37:34 Brother Lawrence and the presence of God
- 39:58 Strength, gladness and Psalm 16
- 43:52 Romans 15:13 and an invitation
- 46:30 Coming boldly and communion
- 51:44 Practicing the presence, even in dreams
Drawing Near to God Series
This message is part of a nine-part series at NTC Ministries on intimacy with God. Go back to the previous teaching or continue with the next one:
- Previous: Drawing Near to God #1 — A Vision of Rising Mountains
- You are here: Drawing Near to God, Part 2 — Presence, Not Performance
- Next: Drawing Near to God #3: Presence, Not Performance
Frequently Asked Questions
Does God leave me when I do not feel His presence?
No. The speaker is clear that God never leaves us and never forsakes us, and that He is everywhere at all times. What changes is His manifest presence, when His love, compassion and goodness become tangible in daily life. That is what James 4 invites us to seek. When we draw near to Him, He draws near to us, so the believer’s part is to take the initiative rather than wait for a feeling.
Do I have to be a church member to take communion here?
No. Before communion, the speaker tells the congregation that they do not need to be members of the church. He says some churches limit communion to their own members, but he does not see that as scriptural, because the Bible speaks of the general assembly. Everyone who is born again and believes in Jesus Christ is invited to come and partake together of the goodness of God.
Why does the pastor say mountains mean drawing near?
In his vision, mountains of many heights rose across Wisconsin, a state without real mountains. He explains that in Scripture, mountains picture people drawing near to God. Moses met God on Mount Sinai, Jesus was transfigured on a high mountain, and the psalmist lifted his eyes to the hills for help. He reads the vision as a sign of many people across the state reaching up toward God’s presence.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- James 4:7–10 — draw near to God
- Exodus 3:1–5 — Moses at the burning bush
- 1 Chronicles 16:27–31 — strength and gladness in His place
- Psalm 145:18 and Psalm 34:18 — the Lord is near
- John 14:6 — the way to the Father
- Hebrews 3:1 — the Apostle and High Priest
- 2 Corinthians 3:7–11 — a more glorious ministry
- Psalm 16:11 — fullness of joy
- Hebrews 4:16 — come boldly to the throne of grace
How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.
Watch More Messages
If this message stirred a hunger for God’s presence, there are hundreds more teachings from NTC Ministries waiting for you. Browse the full sermon archive and keep drawing near to the One who draws near to you.
