Carrying His Presence Forward

Pastor Dan Walker, PhD, MDiv

Introduction: Carrying God’s Presence Between the Years

Today is a special Sunday, the last Sunday of 2025. On year is closing and another is about to begin. Many of us are already thinking ahead about what needs to change, what needs to improve and what we hope will be different in the coming year.

But how we step into a new year shapes how we live in it. Our approach for the new year becomes our approach during the year. If we move forward driven by responsibility alone, we will carry pressure with us, but if we move forward grounded in God’s presence, we will carry peace, clarity and confidence.

Today’s message is entitled “Carrying His Presence Forward.” We’re going to be looking at a story of Moses in Exodus 33. Israel is moving forward after failure, the load of leadership on Moses was heavy, and the future was uncertain.

But before anything else happens, Moses stops and begins a conversation with God. Verse by verse, he asked the questions we need to ask before we step into what comes next. Who will go with us, how will we know God’s ways, what truly distinguishes us as God’s people, and where does our rest actually come from.

This is not just a prayer for ancient Israel, it is a model for us as we stand between the years of 2025 and 2026.

Psalm 127:1 (ESV) Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Everything of importance in our lives and future must be surrendered to the Lord. To try to build families, careers or anything on our own leads to failure. But when we allow the Lord to build the house, it will stand and prosper.

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV) The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

There’s nothing wrong with planning when we get our directions from the Lord. However, plans made without God do not lead to success. A plan only comes to fruition as God directs each of our steps in His purposes.

John 15:5 (ESV) I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Jesus is the life-giving vine of our lives as we abide in His presence. The purpose of the branches is to bear fruit but that can only happen as we stay attached to the vine, as we abide in Jesus. A branch detached from the vine will bear no fruit, it can do nothing.

God’s Word shows us that we need to live in God’s presence continually. We must refuse to move into the new year without the presence of God leading us. So, let’s learn how to carry God’s presence forward into the New Year from Moses’ example in Exodus 33.

Ask God for Clarity Before You Move Forward

Exodus 33:12 (ESV) Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’”

God was calling Moses to leave Mt. Sinai and lead Isarel into the promised land. God had said that He would send an angel before them for protection, but the Lord said that He would not go with them, for the people were so rebellious.

Yet God met with Moses and spoke to him face to face in the tent of meeting. So, Moses is asking the Lord for some clarity in whom the Lord is going to send with him. Moses is humbly saying that he cannot lead the people on this dangerous journey without help.

He can’t understand why if he has found favor with God, God isn’t going with him. Moses is not backing away from obedience. He is insisting that obedience requires God’s leadership, not his self-confidence.

Stepping into the New Year, we need to have the same attitude of dependance on God as Moses did.

James 1:5 (ESV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

This promise from God is for those who acknowledge that they do lack wisdom for life. If we humbly ask God for wisdom in our lives, God promises to give us the wisdom, clarity and direction we need.

God is not stingy in giving wisdom, He gives it to everyone who asks. If we don’t ask, we won’t receive God’s wisdom.

Psalm 25:4–5 (ESV) Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.

These verses from David’s prayer show a deep desire to know God, to be taught by Him and to be led by His presence. He prays and waits on the Lord to give him guidance and clarity for the future.

Application: Making Prayer the First Step in the New Year

As we look forward to the good things that God has for us in the New Year, bring your uncertainty and questions to God early. Don’t wait until you are exhausted or stuck trying your own plans.

Make prayer your first step in planning, no matter what you are planning. Keep praying in faith until you get God’s answer of direction. Don’t move forward on important decisions until you hear God speak.

In your family, make asking for God’s wisdom in decisions normal practice. Start the new year with a simple daily habit. In the morning, ask God for direction before you get busy and the day fills up.

Ask God for clarity before you move forward.

Seek God’s Presence, Not Just God’s Help

Exodus 33:13 (ESV) Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.

Moses does not only want instructions, he wants relationship. He asks God to show him God’s ways, that he may know God. Moses wants to know God, because knowing God is what will sustain him in leadership.

He wants to know God so that he can find God’s favor. When he knows God, he can live pleasing to God and receive God’s blessing. As we enter a new year, the goal is not simply to get God to help with our plans.

The goal is to know Him, walk with Him, and lest His presence shape how we live.

John 17:3 (ESV) And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Eternal life is not just about going to heaven. Eternal life is knowing God and living in His presence, both in this life and in eternity. Knowing God and living in His presence go hand in hand, they go together.

Psalm 27:4 (ESV) One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

David asks the Lord and seeks after one thing the most. To live in God’s presence every day of his life. To live in God’s presence is to worship Him and to talk to Him.

This must be a priority in our lives, nothing is more important than seeking God’s presence and knowing Him.

Philippians 3:8 (ESV) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Paul had the same desire. Nothing else mattered compared to knowing Jesus Christ. To know Jesus is not just to know about Him. To know Jesus is to talk to Him, to hear Him speak, to worship Him, to follow His directions.

We are called to Seek God’s Presence not just God’s help.

Application: Putting Relationship With God Before Outcomes

Pray for a deeper walk with God, not only better outcomes for your plans. All success in life, based on God’s standards, comes from knowing and following Jesus.

Put God first every day of your life in the New Year. Put God first by spending time in reading His Word and prayer each morning.

Talk with your spouse or family about what it would look like to know God more this year. When stress rises, return to relationship with God, not just problem-solving.

When you walk in the presence of Jesus, building that relationship, He will give you His direction in every area of life. Seek God’s presence, not just His help.

As you grow in His presence in the New year. His blessing will overflow in your life and family.

Let God’s Presence Define How You Move Forward

Exodus 33:14 (ESV) And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

God promises that He will go with Moses as he leads God’s people to the Promised Land. God also promises Moses that he will be given rest in leading this nation through difficult times.

But this wasn’t enough for Moses. There was something else important on his mind.

Exodus 33:15 (ESV) And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.”

Moses knew that if God’s presence only went with him and not the people, this was an impossible journey. Moses continues his intercession requesting that God’s presence go both with him and with the people he was leading.

Notice that Moses’ intercession is asking God to change his mind. God has already said that He would not go with the people. Moses is saying, if you do not go with me and the people, I’m not going.

Exodus 33:16 (ESV) For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?

Moses continues to intercede for God to go both with him and the people. God’s presence with God’s people marks them as distinct from every other nation on the earth.

Moses is insisting that God’s presence go with him and the entire nation. He is asking God to change his mind and go with the people as well.

We also need God’s presence and rest in our lives and in our church family.

Matthew 11:28–29 (ESV) Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Without Jesus, life and work is burdensome and exhausting. Jesus promises those who follow Him with rest for their souls.

Jesus does have a yoke for each of us, but He invites us to learn from Him in His presence. He is gentle with us and guides us in His paths.

2 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The presence of Jesus in our lives is through the Holy Spirit. When we are carrying God’s presence with us, there is freedom, not bondage.

Living in God’s presence brings many blessings into our lives.

Application: Prioritizing God’s Presence in Daily and Church Life

Let God’s presence set the pace and direction for your life in the new year. We experience God’s presence in two different ways, both essential.

As Moses, we need God’s presence to guide us individually and with our family. Secondly, like Moses we experience God’s presence in the family of God.

Make a commitment in the new year to be faithful in experiencing God’s presence on Sunday mornings and in a Life Group. Decide that you will not sacrifice God’s presence for lesser things.

Build margin into your week, so your time with God alone, with family and with church family is prioritized. When making plans in the new year, ask, will this help you stay in God’s presence or slowly pull you away.

Pray for friends and families who have developed excuses for not participating in church. Help them to see the importance of experiencing God’s presence regularly.

Walk Into the New Year Confident in God’s Personal Favor

Exodus 33:17 (ESV) And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

God’ final word is personal. He does not simply give Moses a concept. He gives Moses assurance, I know you by name.

This is not just about Israel’s future, it is about God’s relationship with His servant, Moses. For believers, this confidence is even clearer in Christ.

We step into a new year not trying to earn favor but walk in the favor of God through Jesus. Jesus knows and calls us by name.

That relationship becomes the fuel for our obedience, prayer and courage in the new year.

Isaiah 43:1 (ESV) Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

This wonderful promise applies to every believer. We don’t have to fear, because Jesus has saved us. He knows your name and you are his.

His presence goes with us as we continue to seek Him and build our relationship.

Romans 8:15–16 (ESV) For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Again, notice as children of God, we have nothing to fear. God is our father and has given us the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit gives us the assurance that we are children of God.

Application: Living Each Day Knowing You Are Known by God

Begin the New Year seeking the plans that God has personally prepared for you. Make a decision to follow God’s plans, knowing the His presence is with you.

Begin each day reminding yourself that you are known by God and you are not alone. Speak that identity over your children and grandchildren.

God knows you, God is with you. When you fail to follow, repent and return quickly.

You are not rejected, you are loved, you are called by name. Walk into the new year confident in God’s personal favor.

Conclusion: Refusing to Move Forward Without God’s Presence

As we come to the close of 2025, we look back at what was hard, what was good, and what we wish had been different. We also look ahead with hope, concern, and expectation.

Moses reminds us that the most important decision is not what direction we take, but whether God’s presence defines our journey in the new year.

Ask for clarity before moving forward. Seek God’s presence rather than just God’s help. Refuse to move without assurance that God is going with you.

Rest in the assurance that God knows you by name. The same God who went with Moses goes with you through Christ.

His presence is not reserved for Sunday mornings but promised for ordinary days. As we step into a new year, we do not step alone.

We step with the Lord who knows us, calls us by name, and promises His presence.

📘 Continue the Journey

Reflect deeper and apply this week’s message with the Message Study Guide — perfect for personal devotions, family discussion, or your Life Group.

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