Inward Home
The sermon emphasizes the importance of experiencing God's presence as our inward home, where we find fulness of joy and peace.
Mary Wilder Tileston preaches about the profound joy and rest found in the presence of God, emphasizing that true fulfillment and peace come from dwelling in His presence. She highlights the concept of God's unchanging nature and the eternal joy that comes from being close to Him, contrasting it with the emptiness felt when distant from God. Tileston encourages believers to seek and abide in God's presence as the ultimate goal and source of contentment and rest.
Text
In Thy presence is fulness of joy.
PSALMS 16:11
My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.,br> EXODUS 33:14
O REST of rests! O peace serene, eternal!
Thou ever livest, and Thou changest never;
And in the secret of Thy presence dwelleth
Fulness of joy, for ever and for ever.
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
I HAVE no home, until I am in the realized pres-ence of God. This holy presence is my inward home, and, until I experience it, I am a homeless wanderer, a straying sheep in a waste howling wilderness.
ANONYMOUS, 1841
Heaven consists in nothing else than walking, abid-ing, resting in the Divine Presence. There are souls who enter into this heaven before leaving the body. If thou believest that thy God, found, felt, and rested in, is heaven, why not, under the gracious help which He vouchsafes to thee in His Son, begin at once to discipline and qualify thy soul for this heaven? If this be thy chief good, why turn away from it, as though it were a thing not to be desired? If it be the very end of thy being, the only right, good, and blessed end, why postpone thy qualification for it, as though it were a bitter necessity? Suffer thy soul, so noble in its origin, to be withdrawn from dust, noise, multitudes, vain treasures, and vain pleasures, to find its sweetness and fulness in God.
JOHN PULSFORD
Sermon Outline
- The Presence of God is our Inward Home
- The Importance of Experiencing God's Presence
- Qualifying Our Souls for God's Presence
- Discipline and qualify our souls for God's presence
- Suffer our souls to find sweetness and fullness in God
Key Quotes
“In Thy presence is fulness of joy.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“Heaven consists in nothing else than walking, abiding, resting in the Divine Presence.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“O REST of rests! O peace serene, eternal!” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- Discipline and qualify our souls to experience God's presence.
- Suffer our souls to find sweetness and fullness in God.
- Prioritize experiencing God's presence as our chief good and the only right, good, and blessed end of our being.