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2 Chronicles 7:14
Turn Towards God
There is amazing power when the people of God turn towards him.
Sunday Morning Sermon
05.04.08
Intro:
Closer to God Video: -- Jump Drive
(Start with title and text)
"Turn" The word implies a decision, a redirection. I was going north, now I’ll go south. Rather than drive toward a building, I’ll turn and drive away from it. Turn. We understand the term. But are we willing to apply it? It is my prayer this morning that we (together) will see the need to turn back towards God. To make his will supreme in our lives to let nothing come before what he desires to do, in us. If the terrain tells us that we’ve made a wrong turn it’s time to make the right one. It’s time in our marriages, in our family relationships, in our work relationships and in our relationship with God to make the right turns.
There is amazing power when the people of God turn towards him. He honors our movement towards him he blesses the desire for people to acknowledge that he is GOD that he is Lord and that he has a unique and permanent place in our lives.
Discussion:
I’ve heard people tell me: "I don’t know what God’s will is" When I get tempted it’s so easy to do the wrong thing. Here’s the solution TURN towards God. Not just a little bit, not just on Sunday morning, not just when the situations around you are beyond your control. Turn towards God EVERY DAY of your life. Let this movement affect your habits, your joys, your work relationships, your home relationships, let it change the attitudes that you hang on to and justify. Turning towards God is a complete movement in your life. Listen it’s one you will either reject or embrace because you can’t part way turn.
I played basketball in High School was never very good at it. I remember running down the court but I was going backwards. Coach blows the whistle. Reminds us at the top of his lungs that the fastest way to get down the court is by running forwards. TURN, FACE the direction you want to go, and RUN. The same is true in our Christian lives. Far too many Christians are trying to run backwards far too many good church people are trying to run backwards. This morning God calls us to turn and face him and run towards him. God desires that TURN in your life he has from the beginning.
Solomon finished the temple arguably the greatest day in the history of Israel. The temple, the long awaited temple, the vision of his father David, the dream of his ancestors, the temple of Israel was finally complete. Pure gold covered parts of the interior. Precious stones sparkled. The Ark of the Covenant inhabited the Holy of Holies. From the golden altar to the woven curtains the work was finished. Only the presence of God was missing. So Solomon requested it. In a passionate prayer the king of Israel requested the arrival of the King of the universe. (Advance)
2 Chronicles 6:41 (NKJV) Now therefore, Arise, O LORD God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, And let Your saints rejoice in goodness.
Solomon prays and God responds WITH FIRE! Fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the lord filled the temple.
The presence of God filled the temple but he was far from the lives of his people. God doesn’t want to just be in this place he wants to be in your heart, he wants to impact your life. He wanted the same for them so he tells Solomon one of the neatest verses in the Bible.
Turn with me if you have your Bibles to: (Advance) 2nd Chronicles 7:14 (Read)
This verse is about turning towards God 3 specific ways(Advance)
I. From Self- Promotion --> God Promotion (Advance) (Called by my name)
From who I am to who HE is. This is living sacrifice kind of talk because it is the reasonable act of worship. This is Jesus praying (looking at the cross) drops of blood flowing. Not my will but yours be done. This is making your religion acceptable, pure and faultless by taking the time to look after those who can’t take care of themselves. This is forgiving 70 times 7 when people mistreat and hurt you. This is humility, this is understanding who we are because of the one we belong to.
a. The Christian the person after the heart of God
i. Does not follow the world.
ii. Is not controlled by the lies of this world. Jesus says(Advance)
Luke 11:34-35 (NIV) Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.
b. We as the church
i. Have lost our identity
1. Blame it on leadership preachers
2. Blame it on apathy of members
3. Blame it on whatever you want to but we’ve lost our identity
Have you ever left your wallet somewhere thought no big deal I’ll do what I need to do and get right home. I don’t recommend ever leaving without your wallet cause that will be the ONE time you get pulled over what does the cop ask for your identity. This hasn’t happen recently but it has happened to me before. I had to explain who I was, my address, my DL # -- Thankfully he understood.
Church, thoughtfully answer if you had to explain who you are, what the purpose of your life, and the reason you come to church, more importantly, what God has done in your life could you do it?
I think a big reason why people turn away, is because they forget or they can’t see clearly who they belong to. So this good thing comes along bam God gets moved to the back that good person comes along man, look at the time I’ve got relationships to work on. This project or that video game or that hobby becomes more important, more time consuming than God. Here’s the crazy thing they look at the church (you and me) it’s not any different for us. If the devil can’t make you bad he will make you busy.
Stu Weber in his book "spirit warriors" says We must envision ourselves on a rather vicious, cosmic battlefield. Our lives are not about ourselves. This life, the three score and ten we live here on earth, is not about our desires and dreams and our personal fulfillment, or our happiness. Our lives are part of a much larger reality victory over darkness both in and around us. Your life is about nothing less than the glory of God."
Let me tell you remind you make you aware of who you are. Peter defines clearly who the people of God are: (Advance)
1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV) But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
c. What does that mean?
i. You are chosen you are special (Not short bus special) but special meaning you are better, cut from a different cloth.
ii. You belong to GOD You are better than the sin and junk that this world offers.
iii. You were meant to praise him he is worthy of your praise he is worthy of your time your energy and your effort he is worthy of your heart. He is worthy because of what he has done.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
iv. You stand in and have received his mercy something you can’t earn and are far from deserving. (Advance)
Romans 6:23 (NIV) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Bible says the wage you have earned because of your SIN is DEATH. Ephesians paints the same picture (Advance)
Ephesians 2:3-5 (NIV) All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved.
I hope this morning you can see what God has done for you through Jesus. He has given you something you don’t deserve regardless if you are the worst person in the world or have sat in church all your life he has given you mercy he has given you identity. He has called you his child. You are called by his name to turn from the old self, the sinful nature, the object of wrath to life with Christ. The people of Israel were called to the presence of God to worship with a pierced heart and a changed spirit. God invites his people (that’s us) to turn and lift him up. Here’s the second turn --(Advance)
II. From Self-Reliance --> to God Dependence (Advance) (Humble themselves and Pray)
I know you followed me on the last one this is going to take more effort, not because it’s confusing, but because it’s absolutely against who we are as Americans.
a. We are self-reliant
We are do for yourself kind of people we are I made the mess I can fix it kind of people. That’s who we are that’s the culture we live in. I want to suggest that making your own way, and working hard at what you do, being excellent at what you do is not bad.
I went to a piano recital and the teacher gave out awards the young people memorized songs they got a trophy. One young lady, in our church, memorized double what she had to and got a bigger trophy. There’s nothing wrong with that. The cream will rise to the top it’s OK to be creamy.
b. We were not intended to be self-righteous
i. We were not intended to do this on our own
1. By our own wisdom
2. With our own strength
This is a snap shot of Israel’s self reliance and God’s response: (Advance)
2 Kings 17:13-15 (NIV) The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: "Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets." 14 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God. (Advance) 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to do.
It says that God’s response was his anger and he removed his presence from them. They were proud they were self-reliant they ignored God the laughed at the need for him in their lives. They were going to have salvation, but not from God, from themselves. They turned from God.
We look at that -- how foolish they were. We aren¡¦t much different. The Supreme Court in California said that domestic unions are not a good substitute for marriage. Somehow the constitution allows for homosexual marriage let the party and the parades begin. I guess it won’t matter to us until it’s Mississippi. The church (the people of God should be down on their knees asking for forgiveness, asking God to make us the difference.) We go about our lives.unaffected, unhumbled, unchanged.
c. Moving to God-Dependence it means
i. Humility having the right view of self having the right view of God(Advance)
Romans 12:3 (NIV) For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
1. A condition of the heart
2. A condition of the mind
3. A condition of service Regardless of what you gain
Remember that the humility of Jesus sent him to the cross for you. He became your servant taking punishment that he didn’t earn so that you could be free. Being like Jesus means being humble it means servant hood. Dependence means:
ii. Prayer
Max Lucado says You may not turn the head of your teacher or keep the attention of your spouse. But when you pray, God pauses.
Do you know what surprises God? We seldom pray. We have the greatest privilege imaginable access to the very control center of the universe yet we rarely use it. God says through the prophet Ezekiel(Advance)
Ezekiel 22:30 (NIV) I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.
Upon learning that Sodom and Gomorrah were going to be destroyed, Abraham did not rush to warn the cities. (Advance)
Genesis 18:22 (NIV) The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
Nehemiah learned that the city of Jerusalem had fallen into ruins Before he laid a foundation of stone church, he laid a foundation of prayer. (Advance)
Nehemiah 1:4 (NIV) When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Scripture places a high premium on prayer. When we work, we work. But when we pray, God works.
Did Jesus call us to preach without ceasing? Or teach without ceasing? Or have committee meetings without ceasing? Or sing without ceasing? No, but he does call us in (Advance) 1Thessalonians 5:17 (NASB) Pray without ceasing.
Did Jesus say, My house will be called a house of study?¡¨ A house of fellowship? A house of music? A house of exposition? A house of activities? A house of political activists? No, but he did say, (Advance) Matthew 21:13 (NIV) My house will be called a house of prayer.
Make your life a prayerful life. Pray for your children for the people they will marry. I know, Ben is nowhere near getting married but neither is the girl he’s going to marry.get a head start. Pray for your spouse during their day at work. Pray for your parents. Pray for our church. Here’s the intent of our text pray for yourself that you may be in the will of God that you may know his good pleasing and perfect will. (Advance)
James 5:16 (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Pray that God will use you as a solution to those who are hurting and in need around you. And then FOLLOW THROUGH. That¡¦s movement away from self-reliance and a turn towards God-Dependence. The more you trust God ¡V the more he will give you in your life to trust him with.
Here’s the third: (Advance)
III. Self Service To Repentance (Advance) (Seek my Face Turn from their wicked ways)
God despises sin. God deals with sin. And our task is to be honest about our sin. Someone said this: "Those who keep secrets from God keep their distance from God. Those who are honest with God, however, draw near to God."
We don’t have any problems with the first part of the sentence, America needs to change. Our list of complaints grows like the deficit. Hollywood needs to change. Taxes need to change. The White House, the liberals, the conservatives, the lobbyists¡Kwe know what needs to change.
We begin to feeling like the man at the prayer session. During the time of private prayer, he stood alone and prayed, God, I think you that America has people like me. The man on the corner needs welfare I don’t. The prostitute on the street has AIDS I don’t. The bum at the bar needs alcohol I don’t. I thank you that America has people like me.
In the same meeting, a man of humble heart, too contrite to even look to the skies, prayed, God, have mercy on me a sinner. Like my brother on welfare I’m dependent on your grace. Like my sister with AIDS I’m infected with mistakes. Like my friend who drinks I need something to ease the pain. Have mercy on me, a sinner.
Jesus told a story much like that and after he did he said: (Advance)
Luke 18:14 (NIV) "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Arrogance points a finger at the problem. Humility points a finger at self and admits to being part of the problem.
a. Seeking the face of God will lead you to repentence
i. Being honest about the sin in your life the ways that you fail
ii. Recognizing God’s will -- and how your sin moves you away
iii. Repentance coming back to God
iv. Realizing your absolute need for the grace of God
This is the point when you’ve tried everything and you simply say, Lord, Help me¡¨. The other day I have my head in a book, I’m studying, reading or answering an email and Hailey cries out Daddy. I ignore cause I’m busy. Daddy! Again, I look up she’s not bleeding; I’m good but still no movement on my part. She says, DADDY, I NEED YOUR HELP! I drop what I’m doing and I help. (Advance)
Isaiah 30:19 (NCV) The LORD will hear your crying, and he will comfort you. When he hears you, he will help you.
Listen carefully, when you get to the place in your life when all you can do is cry out to God he answers.
b. God wants us to be whole people
i. He wants the church to seek after people who don¡¦t know him
ii. He wants his people to be a light in the world.
Conclusion:
The promise of this passage is healing. If we (God¡¦s people) turn towards God he will heal our lives, our families and our country. I know you might be sitting there this morning thinking WOW I’m glad he’s preaching this for all the people around me church I’m talking to you! This is you and me thoughtfully and intentionally turning our hearts and lives towards God away from the sin that so easily entangles away from bitterness, and unforgiveness away from doubt and fear.
There is amazing power when the people of God turn towards him. Let’s Pray.
(just put this up there when I mention it during the invitation)
Job 1:5 (NIV) Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job’s regular custom.
