REACHing for His Presence!
Reach • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 7 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
We are continuing our series called / / REACH: Finding God in a Noisy World.
The first week asked the question, / / What are you reaching for? Or, let’s ask, who are you reaching for? Are you reaching toward Jesus for what you need? It can be easy to say God provides, but are we learning to actually reach out to Him in the areas we need him, rather than trying to solve something we were never mean to solve ourselves?
We looked specifically at healing. I was reminded again this week that healing is of such value to God. In my daily bible reading on Friday I was reading Luke 10 and it says that Jesus chose seventy-two other disciples. So, last week we looked at Jesus reaching out to twelve disciples to follow him, but these seventy-two are in addition to those twelve. We looked the fact that Jesus is forever and continually reaching out to us, calling us into a life of following Him.
And in Luke 10:1 it says, / / The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.
So these seventy-two were not brand new, and it doesn’t say this is the call to follow him, this is him choosing seventy-two of his disciples that are already following and sending them on this special mission. They have been following, they have been listening to His teaching, and he thinks they are ready to go out and represent him.
This is just kind of the way that Jesus works. A chapter earlier in Luke 9:1 it says, / / One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Then we find ourselves a chapter later and I guess he thought that first one went well so he chooses another seventy-two to do the same thing.
It’s interesting. We talked last week about the cost of following Jesus. That sort of, salvation message we wish we would’ve got. That the invitation is to follow Jesus through a whole lot of stuff and it’s not promised to be easy, but it is promised to bring us to life!
So, at the beginning of Luke 9 Jesus sends out the twelve to minister, and by the end of Luke 9 it’s actually one of the scriptures we read last week where Jesus has conversations with three different people who wanted to be disciples, or they said they would follow him, but when it came down to it, they weren’t really ready. One didn’t like the sound of Jesus not having a place to live, another wanted to go home and deal with some family stuff, and yet another wanted to go say good-bye to his family before he followed.
Jesus’ response to all of them was essentially, / / You’re not ready to follow if you’re not ready to follow now. If you can’t make the decision right now, then right now might not be the time to make that decision, because this is going to cost you, and you should make this decision knowing what you’re walking into, so that you can make this decision with your whole heart, your whole mind, and all your strength.
And this is not Jesus rejecting them, he’s saying count the cost. He’s saying know what you’re getting in to, because those who follow me have to know they are ready, because if they aren’t the road I’m walking will be too difficult.
I had this moment when I was 18. I was in Toronto at a youth conference. I had probably the second most vivid spiritual experience I have ever had. The band was on stage leading worship, I was near the back of the room. I was really struggling at that point in my life. I didn’t really want to be there, but everything in me knew that Jesus was the only real way to life. And I had a vision of everyone in the room raptured. I kid you not. It felt real as real can be. And in this vision of course I freak out because I’m still here. Now, do I think I wasn’t saved. I don’t think that was the point. Remember I said last week Jesus parables are in a lot of ways like how we teach our kids, you give the extreme because it makes the point you need to make.
So I’m loosing it in this vision. I’m devastated that I’ve missed the rapture. And as a kid growing up in a church where this was the big moment we’ve all been waiting for, and then you’re not included.... wow.
I come out of the vision and worship has ended and a girl walks onto the stage and begins to talk about this School of Ministry they have. This 5-month school to get your heart right with God. And this is what I said. I so identify with these people in Luke 9. I said, “God, I’m not ready to give you my life right now, but I promise you, I will go to this School of Ministry...”
The next year of my life was actually really difficult. Felt like there was a whole lot of push back leading up to this moment. But as I promised, it was a year and a half later that I walked into that school, and it was 6 years later that I left that place. 2 years of school. 4 years on staff at the church. Leading worship on Sundays, and conferences. And that same year was the year Kelley and I ended up getting together, traveling the world leading worship and teaching.
My point is this. In that moment, even though I was being quite foolish in saying, “Not today Jesus...” I didn’t feel Jesus disappointment. Even in the story of the rich young ruler, from Mark 10, it says Jesus looked at him and felt genuine love for him as he told him the cost of following. Not rejection. Not disappointment. There are even those who believe that rich young ruler, who walked away sad at hearing that Jesus said he had to sell all of his possessions, came back later and followed Jesus. There’s no biblical basis for that, but this isn’t a story of Jesus rejecting us, it’s a story of us sometimes not being ready to follow, and Jesus being extremely patient with us!
So, we get to the end of Luke 9 and these three conversations happen, three more decisions of not being ready to follow....
And the very next verse....Luke 10:1, Jesus chose seventy-two others. Yes, some couldn’t take up that call. The call to follow Jesus has a cost, but the result is what we are all deeply and desperately longing for.... life. Think about it, it’s what we’re about to celebrate tomorrow. And I think we’ve gotten it…I wouldn’t say wrong, but we’ve been sold a bit of a deception. Tomorrow we celebrate what we’re all looking for…probably what all of humanity is looking for. Our forefathers were smart when they wrote this:
/ / We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The deception is this, that the document is called our Declaration of Independence, and that we call it Independence Day when those things, life, liberty & happiness are all found in our dependence on God.
Ya, / / we call it “Independence Day”, but Life, Liberty & Happiness are all found in our DEPENDENCE on God!
/ / Life - There are so many scriptures on this, but let’s just resolve to say that Jesus is the way to life - John 10:10, The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
/ / Liberty - [the state of being free]… Again, the words of Jesus John 8:31-32, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
/ / Happiness - Of course, we could quote a whole lot of scripture here about finding our joy in the Lord, but John 17, right before Jesus is betrayed and arrested, he is praying and says this to God the Father of his work with the disciples, / / “I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy…I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message...” (John 17:13,20)
/ / Life, Liberty & Happiness are found in following Jesus to His life, being faithful to His teaching for freedom, and listening to His voice to be filled with joy!
See, one of the issues is that we as a nation have taken it upon ourselves to make our life, liberty and happiness. And I know I’m a transplant, but I consider myself a patriot. And I truly think that / / Our greatest freedom in America IS that we are free to pursue God for these things. The great deception we face is that because of our freedom, we think we can do it on our own!
Here is my honest opinion on why we are seeing some of the things we see in this world right now, and in this nation. The things we look at and go, “How did this happen? How do people not see the truth?”...
Romans 1:21-23 says this, / / Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshipping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired…
The only change I would make is where it says, “They worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles” I would probably say, “They worshipped the ideas of mere people, technology they thought would save them, science itself instead of the Creator who made all things, and their own ideals instead of the Truth.”
That’s why we asked last week, do you know who’s reaching out to you? When we recognize that Jesus himself, God, the creator of the world is reaching out to us, why would we not want to reach back to Him?
Maybe I got off track a bit here, I started by talking about the seventy-two that Jesus sent out. But it’s all connected. These seventy-two were committed, Jesus begins to reach out to people, and they were reaching back. They were truly following. They were listening and applying and as a result experiencing freedom and the Kingdom of God. And like I said, as I was reading this, I was reminded of God’s nature to be a healer, which is one of the things we are reaching for. His nature to truly give us life, freedom & happiness. To move in our lives.
So, with the seventy-two, just like with the twelve, Jesus says, / / “If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’”.
Even in Matthew 15 when Jesus tells the woman he won’t heal her, the ESV translates what he says this way, / / “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” (Matthew 15:26 ESV)
Healing is so basic to the nature of God that Jesus calls it the children’s bread. Of course, you give your children bread.
He said in Matthew 7:9, / / “You parents - if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?” And the response to that question is, “Of course not”, And so Jesus continues / / “...if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give goof gifts to those who ask him.” And that’s not a question like there’s any debate to be had, it’s a statement - think about it. The point Jesus is making is: If your kids ask for something, you give it to them, your Heavenly Father is an even better parent than you...
And that whole discourse is a continuation of Matthew 7:7, / / “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for, Keep on seeking, and you will find, Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened!”
So, Do you realize that Jesus is eternally reaching out to you? Calling you? Desiring for you to follow him and to reach out to him? And, are you reaching out in return? And are you reaching out for healing?
I think for us personally, and for those we want to see experience the love of God, there is no greater expression than healing. When someone is in pain, and you can pray for them and see them set free, and they have just literally experienced the Kingdom of God - what greater expression of love, in the moment, can you experience? Yes, Jesus said, no greater love is there than someone lay their lives down for their friends. That ultimate sacrifice is of course the greatest expression of love. But in the moment, when someone is in pain, when someone is in need, healing is a tangible expression of God’s love.
This is why we pray often here, and why I am encouraged to continue to pursue, continue to pray, continue to study and teach and ask God for revelation on healing. I personally believe there is no situation that would qualify as being not God’s will to heal someone. I believe it is always God’s will, or desire, to see people made whole. Let’s just remind ourselves of John 10:10, the enemies purpose is to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus’ response to that is, but my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
Isaiah 53, which is probably the greatest Messianic prophecy, meaning, an Old Testament prophet spoke of the coming Messiah, who is Jesus, says, / / Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)
So, what do you do with the reality that not everyone is healed? Some suffer. Some die because of their sickness or disease - even after being prayed for. I have close personal friends who were prayed for non stop and yet still died, and the community of believers around them were left with unanswered questions. But here’s the thing, and I really appreciate this. I was watching a video from Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California, he is an absolute father in the faith and in revival. You’ve all heard their churches worship on the radio and in this place. They have championed revival and the Kingdom of God for many many years. And he was talking about healing and said this, and I 100% agree. In response to this question, what about when someone isn’t healed?
/ / I would never want them to somehow feel less than, or that they don’t have enough faith, or that somehow this is God’s punishment on their life…I don’t want to do that… But I also don’t want to create a theology around what doesn’t happen. I don’t have good explanations, or explanations at all. What I do have is the Pool of Bethesda - one guy was healed. History tells us as many as 900-1000 people around that pool. There was only one person that was healed. Does that mean that Jesus rejected the rest? No. He was showing us what one person could do that was yielded to the Father. He was illustrating that heart to us. And so the bible celebrates the one, without condemning the others.
The point is this.
When it comes to prayer, there are two levels of faith.
First, there is the faith to believe that God heals. It is God’s desire to Heal and to make everyone whole.
And second, that sometimes faith requires endurance. 2 Peter 3:9 says this, / / The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
God isn’t being slow, like we somehow understand the timing of God anyway. I don’t think we do.
And I think this is one of the greatest statements I’ve heard on healing - / / I don’t want to create a theology around what doesn’t happen.
That’s not to say there aren’t reasons - but don’t make up your mind that God doesn’t heal based on some thing, or some situation, or some person’s experience.
He says when they teach in their schools on healing, they actually stop people from praying, “God, if it is your will...” because that implies doubt that it might not be.
And we have reference for that. Mark 9, the father that comes to Jesus, he says, / / “Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, “If I can?” Jesus asked.” Anything is possible if a person believes. The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help ME overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:22-24)
Like I said, I’ve had friends that died waiting for healing.
We have people in this church that come in with pain, and leave with pain. And I wish that was not the case. I pray that God would do such miracles in this house that no one ever has to leave here in pain. Can I please get an amen on that...
But when it doesn’t happen, I think our human nature is to want to know why. Did we do something wrong? Did God not want to? Why did God not do it? And I think that comes from a place of needing to blame someone. We don’t like unanswered questions. We don’t like saying, “I don’t know.”
So we ask why did this person not get healed? And it almost sounds spiritual. God, help me understand why this didn’t happen. or Help me understand why this person hasn’t been healed.
What if, instead of asking those questions, we simply prayed like this father responds to Jesus, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief”
/ / Instead of asking God why it didn’t happen, ask God to increase your faith to believe that it will!
I don’t want doubt in my life - we read Matthew 21:21 last week, Jesus says to his disciples, “if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more.” I don’t want doubt - and asking why and feeling like we need to ask why leaves room for doubt. “Was it my praying? Was it your receiving? Was it God’s power lacking?” And then where is our faith? Where is our belief? It’s no longer in the power of God to heal but in doing the right thing or getting it the right way. And I’m talking specifically about healing at the moment, right. When it comes to healing, We can ask all day long why something doesn’t happen, but does that help us believe any more than we do now? And why do we want to know? Like it has something to do with us to begin with? Like we have to find the right key to unlock the right thing to do it the right way so the person can receive the miracle that ultimately has nothing to do with us in the end? This challenges my christian upbringing. And it may yours as well. Because I think the church has taught this, even in the charismatic and revival culture that I personally come from.
Don’t get me wrong here. There is a tension here. Jesus healed people in some very peculiar ways, and if we are to follow Jesus and how he lived we may at times feel the leading of God to do some strange things. John 9:6, / / Then he [Jesus] spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes.
Was the power in the mud? Ummm… I don’t think so - We can’t make a theology that this is how to heal blind eyes, get the holy mud. But you can learn that just like the story of the Pool of Bethesda, it is an example of a life fully yielded to the Father in faith, and fully yielded to the Holy Spirits leading.
Off all the things God does in our lives the first being eternal salvation, I think the second is He wants to make us whole, give us life, and that includes being healed and healthy.
And we know that these things don’t happen all the time, I have never met someone, and Kelley and I have had some incredible opportunities to be around some really amazing people with some really amazing gifts of healing at work in their lives - but I don’t remember any of them having a 100% success rate. But my encouragement for you and for me today is instead of feeling like when we prayed we did something wrong, or the person receiving prayer didn’t have enough faith, or God did something wrong or maybe God didn’t want to, let’s begin to ask God for more faith.
No more, if you can.
No more, if it be your will.
Not even, if we only had more faith, just simply, God, help me have faith. I do believe, help me where I don’t...
The woman who reached out after 12 years of needing healing and pursuing every avenue of action she could.... Jesus said, “your faith has made you whole.”
Yes, / / Jesus pointed out people’s lack of faith, not as a discouragement, but as an ENCOURAGEMENT to have MORE faith!
Matthew 8, there’s a storm, they are in a boat, the disciples are afraid, Jesus says, / / “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Is that a scold on their lack of faith, or simply an explanation as to why they are afraid, and an encouragement to have more faith and not be afraid.
Matthew 17, the disciples ask, / / “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?” “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them.
Again, not scolding, but training, equipping, encouraging. Have more faith.
Matthew 14:31, Peter is literally walking on water toward Jesus and he looks down, and begins to sink. Jesus responds as he grabs him, / / “You have so little faith…why did you doubt me?”
If you have a theology that doesn’t state that God doesn’t punish us, all of those things can end up sounding like scolding. But, if you have a theology that Jesus came that we might experience abundant life, and wholeness, and that He is kind beyond measure, than all of those things will sound like encouragement to have more faith.
If you pray for someone and they do not get healed, I want you to hear this - Jesus is not scolding you for your lack of faith.
If you need healing, and you have been praying, or been prayed for, and you did not get healed, I want you to hear this - Jesus is not scolding you for your lack of faith.
But he may be asking both of us why we doubted, and he may be encouraging us to have more faith.
OK, so let’s put this into practice here for a moment. - Pray for Healing...
The simple truth is that this journey must continue. There has to be a continual reaching out, not just IN faith, but to the one who GIVES faith. Reaching out to the one who we put our faith in.
Paul says in Ephesians 2:8, / / God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
The Message translation says it this way, / / Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
We neither make nor save ourselves. This whole life is meant to be a reaching out to the giver of life itself...
And although it is all on him, through him, because of him, we receive when we reach out.
I read earlier, the reason I think we have so many issues at the moment is Romans 1: 21, / / Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him or even give him thanks.
Are we reaching out to God?
It is in the presence of God, in the word of Jesus Christ, in the filling of the Holy Spirit.
I put a tagline on this series, / / Finding God in a Noisy World.
That is the truth. The world is noisy. Our lives are noisy. You can’t look in any direction without seeing something that can and wants to distract you. But Psalm 65:2,7 says, / / All of us must come to you…You quieted the raging oceans with their pounding waves and silenced the shouting of the nations.
So much of what we look at comes back to, are we following the ways of Jesus? Are we learning to deny ourselves to follow him, but if you don’t KNOW Jesus, you’re never gonna follow him.
If you don’t KNOW the Holy Spirit, you won’t ever become sensitive to his voice, to his leading. I said earlier, when it comes to healing, there were times Jesus would do some strange things. Spit in the mud, rubs it on this man’s eyes, and then tells him to go wash himself in a pool. Or how about the time he stuck his finger in someones ears and then spit on his finger and touched the man’s tongue with it. But even the not so strange ones. Sometimes Jesus simply spoke, sometimes he would touch them and the healing came in the touch, sometimes they touched him, or his garment, sometimes he sent them on their way and it was as they went that they got healed.
How was Jesus to know what and how to operate in the anointing he carried? Like I said, it wasn’t a theology of getting the holy mud for the eyes, or the anointed spit for the ears… No one wants to get spit on if they don’t have to be…am I right? Jesus was led by the Spirit of God. John 5:19, Jesus says / / “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing.”
And I’ve said this before, I don’t believe that’s a visual representation but rather a relational reality that Jesus has with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. When you know what someone WOULD do you know what TO do. When you want to act like someone, and you know how they would act, then your actions will be how they would act.
In the midst of a noisy world, the best thing we can do is reach out to God’s presence.
2 Chronicles 16:9 says, / / The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
The world is noisy. There is a lot going on. Physically. Emotionally. Politically. Locally. Nationally AND Globally. The world is noisy. And the solution to the noise around us is to reach out to God.
And it’s not so much HOW you do it, as much as it is that you actually DO do it.
The noise serves as a distraction, and the distraction leads us away from the pursuit.
I said earlier that in my daily reading time on Friday morning I was really encouraged. And I was. But here’s the thing, that was the first time this week I had taken that time, and I had so much to do on Friday, but I felt the calling of God, I could hear his heart, not because it’s a system of rules like if we don’t read the bible everyday we’re somehow not a good Christian, but the reality is faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God. Not hearing the word of Rob. Not hearing the word of Facebook. Not hearing the word of my family, even though my family is amazing and I love them and I do truly find life in being with them. But faith comes from hearing the word of God, and I had simply just slipped into noisy mode. Kaylee is on summer vacation, so she’s been staying up a little later, which means I’ve ended up staying up a little later, which means I’ve been getting up a little bit later, and I know that my time with the Lord is best found first thing in the morning. In the quiet.
That’s for me. I’m not saying that’s the method, I’m saying that’s my connection with God.
What I am saying is that / / finding God in the midst of a noisy world does not happen unless we are intentional about it.
2 Chronicles, The Lord is searching for those who are committed to him. Same as Hebrews 11:6, / / Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
He is searching for those who are seeking, and when he sees them, he meets them, he rewards them. James 4:8, / / Draw near to God and God will draw near to you.
Are we reaching out? Are we taking time to pursue?
Paul explains in Acts 17 that this is the way God intended humanity to exist. He says in vs 27, / / His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him - though he is not far from any one of us.
It may seem simple, but it’s truly profound what Paul is explaining here as the purpose of God for humanity:
/ / 1. Seek & Feel
We are meant to seek God. The word is very appropriately translated. / / Seek in the english dictionary means to attempt to find something, an attempt or desire to obtain or achieve something, to ask for something from someone.
And the greek word means the same thing, to seek a thing in order to find it. But it also expands a bit and gets into how you seek. It’s defined as - / / to devote serious effort to realize one’s desire or objective.
Strong’s concordance says, to seek, in order to find out, by thinking, meditating, reasoning, to enquire into.
I believe when the bible tells us that we are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind - Jesus confirms this as the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37, to love God with all your mind, that is to say with all your understanding, feeling and desiring. In your way of thinking, your thoughts, and even your imagination. The definition of the word used in the original greek actually means, its exercise. The use of your mind. / / To love the Lord your God with all your mind is to exercise the use of our brain, our intellect, our understanding IN our pursuit of Him.
/ / If you want to be deeply spiritual about God, start being deeply practical with your actions!
And the bible talks a lot about this. Psalm 19:14, / / May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Joshua, who took over from Moses after he had passed away, leading the people of God into the promised land, it says in Joshua 1:8, / / Study this book of instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command - be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Such a great reminder AND a great promise. The Lord is with you wherever you go, you WILL prosper and succeed in ALL you do if you do what He has said and follow where he leads, SO, make following him a priority - you’re going to want to study and meditate on the word of God to do so - What does His word say, what does His word mean, what is God leading you into?
And this isn’t just the Old Testament. Philippians 4:8 which is one of my favorite verses, and this is so absolutely needed in today’s world where it is noisy and distracting and things are constantly vying for your attention - / / Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me - everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Again, another really good encouragement - focus and follow and as a result you WILL experience God. But be intentional. Remind yourself to think rightly. Remind yourself to not get sidetracked. Meditate on the truth. Think about God’s goodness. Read and study.
So, in Acts 17, after he says, / / His purpose was for the nations to seek after God, The second thing he says is ...AND perhaps feel our way toward him.
The word feel means to touch, to handle, to reach out for and find, or to touch by feeling and handling. In essence the action of what you do when you’ve found something that you were looking for. Seek after God so that you can feel him. This sort of brings in the physical aspect of the idea of seeking. Seek, mentally, meditate on Him, but also, feel, pursue. And I don’t mean physically like get in your car and go find God, or like you’re in a dark room and you’re going to actually touch him. But don’t just settle for a mental understanding. That’s not what God wants. Love the Lord your God with all your heart.... FEELING. This is sort of Paul’s point in the greater context of this passage of scripture.
At the time he’s talking to this group of people in Athens that have statues and idols to all these gods and there’s even a statue labeled, “To the unknown god” like they are covering all their bases, just in case. And Paul makes the point that there is one God, one Creator, and He doesn’t live in temples made by man. So in once sense he’s saying, You’re not going to find him physically in these places. He isn’t in your temples. He’s not in your stone sculptures, or your gold and silver idols. Stop looking to these things. BUT, if you want to find him, you must seek and feel after him.
/ / 2. Seeking leads to finding
This is the second great point of Acts 17:27, / / His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him AND FIND HIM...
This is the promise, right? Hebrews 11:6, you must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Seeking leads to finding!
Jeremiah 29:13 says, / / You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Meditate on his word. Seek him in prayer. Give place in your life for His presence.
Kelley and I have a friend, Carol, and it’s been a while since we’ve spoken to her, so I don’t know if she’s still doing this, but she did it for quite some time, she had a timer, and set the timer for 10 minutes from the moment she woke up to the moment she went to sleep. And every time that timer went off she would stop and take just a moment to focus on God, invite Him to be present and move in her life, and give Him permission and place.
She would experience incredible moments with God.
Something happens when God shows up.
And we should expect that He does.
Especially if we are seeking Him, and feeling out for Him.
Look at the experience of the disciples in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit shows up on pentecost.
Kelley and I were part of a movement in Toronto Canada that experienced great revival. The first night the Holy Spirit shows up the entire room was on the floor, unable to move, simply because the presence of God was there in a way that people felt.
I’m not saying that’s what it means to experience God, that is one way people experience His glory. Moses in the bible was in the glory of God, meaning the presence of God, and when he came down the mountain he had to cover his face because he was literally shining too bright for people to even look at him.
Philippians 4:8 says focus or meditate on the things of God, follow him, do what scripture teaches and / / the God of peace will be with you.
Nehemiah 8:10 says the / / joy of the Lord is our strength
Paul prays in 2 Corinthians 1:3, All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. / / God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.
Sometimes when we seek after God we receive comfort, peace, strength, joy, mercy. I wouldn’t say it’s always about feeling something physically, I would say it’s about feeling Him as he is expressing himself.
Sometimes I just know He is near, and that makes all the difference. Yes, theologically I know that God never leaves me, never forsakes me, He’s always with me. I know the Holy Spirit is with me and even inside of me, I am the temple of the Holy Spirit, but sometimes I FEEL that he is with me. There’s a difference.
Paul finishes his thought in Acts with, / / though he is not far from any one of us.
Basically saying, He’s already close…so reach out.
He’s right here… rest in knowing that He’s close.
Seeking and feeling after God doesn’t mean you have to memorize the whole bible, but in my experience, as soon as you begin to lean into His word you will begin to experience Him.
It doesn’t mean you have to set a timer for every 10 minutes, but my experience has been any time I DO take a moment and stop my life, focus on God, I encounter Him.
We encourage these daily habits because a focused and intentional life is the key to experiencing God’s goodness on a continual basis.
Everything we read in scripture points to this.
To find you must seek
For the door to be opened, you must knock.
To receive, you need to ask.
To experience God’s presence you need to earnestly seek him.
Because this is the truth - / / the promise is on the other side of the pursuit.
Seek … and you will find
Knock … and the door will be opened
Ask … and you will receive
Earnestly seek God … and you will find Him… You will experience His presence.
Intentionality is the only way to move forward and I find a lot of people want to believe in God mentally - they like the idea of God, especially the blessings part.... but they want it without the commitment of following after Him and it just doesn’t work that way.
But don’t be confused - following after God isn’t a chore, it’s a joy. Like I said this week. Monday - Thursday I was busy and distracted, and Friday morning I spent time reading the word of God and honestly, it felt different. It set my day up. It changes the atmosphere.
And I didn’t feel condemned by God that I hadn’t read my bible for 4 days, I felt sad I missed the opportunity to connect with Him through the word. And I felt his drawing me to that place again. It only took a very short period of time for me to realize what I was truly missing.
Is getting up earlier than I want to a bit of a chore. .. Yes
Does it feel counter intuitive to stop everything else when I have so much to do and focus on God… sure
But Jesus promised, seek first the kingdom (not do the work first, not plan out your day first, not worry about what’s going on and how busy and how noisy the world is)… / / Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33)
You won’t miss out if you prioritize God.
You won’t be left short if you make Him your focus.
REACH out for His presence. Seek, Feel after and you will find! Because he’s not so far off…he’s right here.