Intimacy With God Series

Vital Signs

Part 1- Intimacy With God

Pastor Ryan Akers

Me- What excites you? What gets your heart pumping and your blood racing? What is it that keeps you up all night because you are too excited to sleep?

Hunting- thrill of the kill Roller Coasters- anticipation of the climb Sports- rivalry, unknown Book or movie or TV show- Star Wars

Many things excite us. We all get excited about different things. What excites me probably won’t excite you and vice versa. But we all have something that drives us, that gets us up each morning. It’s not always a job or money. There are things that we just love and are passionate about that we may be good at and gives us purpose.

We- Usually what we love becomes what we worship. It is the thing that we will live for. (Dress like it, toys, subscriptions, movie tickets/stand in line for hours, computer backgrounds.)

Old shirts- B-ball is life, the rest is just details. Ryan’s – “Jesus is life, the rest is just basketball.”

There is no denying that many of you here know God but it’s hard to find many with an obsession with God. Not fanatics. But people who are consumed with Holy Spirit. How can we make God come alive to us like hunting or roller coasters or sports comes alive to us? Why do people act like God is boring? How can we make God something that we worship with every fiber in us?

What made Moses so excited he would take on a Pharaoh? What made David so excited that he would take on a giant? What made Daniel so excited that he would sleep with lions? What made Shad rack, Me shack, and Abendigo so excited that they would face the fire? What made Peter take on the guards? What made Esther take on a corrupt leader? What made Noah take on Nature? What makes millions of missionaries leave their homes and their families to put their lives on the line for poor third world people? What made Jesus take on the cross?

Worship- They knew exactly what they were created for and it became the very essence of who they were. They understood that life and purpose is never found in the things around us. Life is found in the understanding that we were created to worship God. We were created to have a relationship with Him. These people had their attitude and their heart in line with God’s heart.

You see an incredible example of passion for God, right heart and attitude towards God in Psalm 27- David writing. Hebrew- Tihillim- praises, overall teaching is that God is over all things. Write Psalms during different good and bad times in his life.

God- Psalm 27

Vs. 1-3- David expresses his confidence in God.

When we don’t trust God, we develop anxiety and fear. When there is worry in us when we feel like we are losing control then we panic. Normally we don’t run to God we blame God. David runs to God even through war and pain. These things give him confidence not fear. He doesn’t blame God he puts more hope in God. Less of me and more of Him. More of me says, “why is this happening to me, what have I done to deserve this?”

Less of me and more of Him says, Paul- “I delight in my weaknesses”, Moses- “Lord I stutter.” God says “Who made your mouth? Moses spoke with confidence. Its confidence knowing that there is nothing that will happen in this life that will keep me from the love of Christ. We are more than conquerors.

Romans 8:31, 37

Vs. 4- David was King, rich, popular ruler, preached the Word of God, yet He only wanted one thing. To be with God.

I may lose everything but I still have God. I may get fired, lose my family, my house, my money, but if I have God then I will still have Joy. He is sufficient. He is all I need. David met his creator and he was never the same. He forgot about his physical wants and focused on his spiritual needs. God’s goals became his goals. He became a man after God’s own heart.

I believe that it is impossible for us to talk about knowing God and loving God but remain unchanged by God. How can we love and know God yet not have a passion for him. Not be moving past the same things we have been struggling with for years. Intimacy with God demands change in us.

God is an adventure and I feel sorry for those who think that what the world offers is fun and exciting because they obviously haven’t lived for God. Living for God each and everyday is the adventure.