Podcasts are a great thing, but keeping up with them is a bit of a challenge. So, I’m not sure when David Platt (Pastor of The Church at Brookhills in Birmingham) taught it, but I was listening to one of his sermons this morning. He was teaching on Exodus 33. In the passage, God told Moses he was going to give the Israelites the blessings he had promised them–the holy land and all–but God himself was not going to go with them because they were a stiff-necked people.

Moses would not leave. He pleaded with God to go with them. God agreed. There is much about God’s conversations with Moses that I don’t understand, but Platt asked a very pointed question:

If God offered to give us his blessings without his presence, how would we respond?

Is it possible that God could fail to show up in our youth ministries . . . in our Bible study classes, youth mission projects, or fellowship activities . . . and we would not even notice?

We in America are good at doing church. Your church may be small, but, compared to the standards of history, it is probably very wealthy. You have a place to meet, resources to help you, and probably some trained leadership. Is it possible that we have become so comfortable with the blessings of God that we no longer feel the need for his presence?

The most important aspect of youth ministry is a leader who is passionately clinging to the presence of the living God. Nothing can replace that. Can we do good youth ministry without the presence of God? I shudder to think, but perhaps we can.

What a dismal failure to experience God’s promised land . . . but not have the presence of God.