Series Introduction
A favorite activity of mine as a kid was a Connect the Dots page from a coloring book or activity book. Before you start, you may have an idea of what the picture is going to be, and sometimes you may not. But you start with number one, and draw a line to 2, then 3, and so on until you get to the end. Then, the picture is revealed.
Sermon Introduction
We use this phrase “connect the dots” in other areas of life. I like mysteries—either books, TV shows or movies, and even in real-life situations—detectives collect some clues, and you know the clues are important, but they don’t make sense to us at first. But when the detective “connects the dots” we can see the solution to the mystery.
Throughout our lives, we have collected bits and pieces of information that affect us spiritually. If you’ve been in Sunday School, you’ve studied the Bible to some degree. You’ve probably listened to numerous sermons, and while you may not remember any particular sermon, I’m sure you’ve gathered some tidbits of information from many of them. The hymns and Christian songs you here or sing add to this spiritual knowledge that you have. Radio and TV ministries have given you additional information.
So, we may have all these bits and pieces of spiritual information from all these different places, and yet we often still feel like God has little or nothing to do with our lives. We feel like He’s a million miles away. We’re so busy with school, work, family, friends, or leisure that we fail to connect with God. We’ve got a lot of the dots there, but things are so scattered in our minds and hearts and lives that we can’t connect with God the way He wants us to.
I want to share with you three ways to help us pull these “dots” together, so we can consistently connect with God.
Love God More
I want to do a little participation here: If you LOVE chocolate, raise your hand. (Wait.) Now, before I go any further, look around at those whose hands are not raised—these are the heathen, non-chocolate-loving people! Now, if you have your hand raised, and you have had some chocolate at least once in the 12 months, keep your hand up; if not, put your hand down. [Continue with “6 months, month, week, day, at breakfast.” If any hands are left up…] These are the ones who REALLY love chocolate!
If I changed the question and asked, “Is there a person that you LOVE—husband, wife, mom, dad, kids, grandparents, grandkids? And then I asked, “How often do you see that person—once a year, twice, once a month, once a week, once a day?” I realize that distance may hinder us from seeing some of the people we love as often. Or “How often do you talk to that person—once a year, twice, once a month, once a week, once a day?”
The truth is—when we LOVE someone, we want to SEE them, TALK to them, and LISTEN to them.
The same thing holds true with God. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 6: 5, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”
Jesus said that THIS is THE most important thing in connecting with God.
If I asked the question, “Do you love God?” most everyone here would say, “Yes.” So, why do we feel like God is a million miles away? Why don’t we give more consideration to what God wants in our day-to-day living? Do we REALLY LOVE God with all our heart, soul and strength?
For those of you who are married or have been married—do you remember your dating relationship with your future spouse? You were on the phone for hours, talking about nothing, but you didn’t want to hang up. Or when you were out on a date, and it was time to go home, you didn’t want to say goodbye. And you did little things to show how much you loved each other.
I don’t remember how long my wife and I had been dating, but I invited her over, and I was going to cook a meal. I had two other roommates, so I was going to cook for everybody. Somehow, I settled on pizza. I remembered that the first lunch date we ever had was at a pizza place. You can’t go wrong with pizza. I wasn’t going to buy one of these frozen pizzas. Uh-uh, I was going to make it from scratch. How impressive is that?
I made the crust and the sauce, so I’m pretty well committed to pizza. However, being a seminary student, money was very tight. and I guess at this point, I realized that I had not gone to the grocery store to buy any meat, vegetables, or mozzarella cheese to go on this pizza.
But being the resourceful person that I am, I began to look around in the cabinets to see what we had. There I was in Texas, and there are a lot of Hispanic people in Texas, and they eat a lot of beans and rice. Well, we didn’t have any beans, but we did have rice. So I cooked some rice. Then, I spread out the crust on the pizza pan, spread some sauce all over it. Then, I spooned rice on top of the sauce, and spread it out so it would be even. Then, I took some slices of American cheese and put all over the top of it, and put it in the oven. So, we ate rice pizza for supper that night.
My wife later admitted she wasn’t too impressed with rice pizza, but when you love somebody, you want to be with them, and talk to them and do things with them and for them. And if you’re like my wife, you’ll overlook the really dumb things they do.
Do we really love God that way? We’re not really going to connect with God if we don’t love Him that way. But when we do, we will express that love in a few ways.
2. We Need to Learn More of God.
Deuteronomy 6: 6-9, “And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your home and on your gates.”
As we read these verses, we can’t help but see a person who is committed to learning more and more of God.
Sadly, most Christians today only learn about God from other people—Sunday school teachers and class members, preachers’ sermons, hymns and songs, TV, and radio. Granted, this can offer some encouragement, and you can get some wise teaching from others.
When I was growing up, one of the most famous celebrities alive was Elvis Presley. I loved Elvis Presley. I loved his singing, and a lot of his songs. I watched his movies. I read articles and books about him. I loved Elvis Presley.
But when I think about it—I never saw Elvis Presley, I never talked to him, He never talked to me. I never did anything personal for him. Everything I knew about Elvis Presley came from somewhere else, and not out of a personal experience, or a personal relationship with him.
So when I say that I LOVE Elvis Presley, what kind of love is it? It’s not the same kind of love that I have for my wife, or for my kids.
Our love for someone is affected by how personally we know them. And the same thing is true about God. Our love for God is affected by how personally we know Him. If the only way we know God is through what we learn from other people, our love for God will not be the same as if we talk with Him personally, and hear from Him personally.
In order to connect the dots with God, we simply MUST get to know Him personally. How do we get to know God that way? Preachers say it all the time, and you probably get sick and tired of hearing it. PRAYER and BIBLE STUDY—You talk to God, and let Him talk to you.
How do we talk to God? The word "PRAY" can help you know how to talk to God.
P-Praise & Thank God
R-Repent of any sin and ask for God’s forgiveness.
A-Ask for God’s provisions for others and yourself
Y-Yearn (have a deep desire) to Love, Know, and Obey God
How does He talk to us? The word "STUDY" (from ’study the Bible’) can help you know how to do a simple but meaningful Bible study.
S-Select a passage of Scripture. (Use a reading plan or go through a book of the Bible, but in this study, only select 5-10 verses to study.)
T-Talk with God to ask for understanding
U-”Unearth” the truth(s) God wants you to know. (Ask questions about the verses and seek answers. Emphasize different words in the verses to get different shades of meaning.)
D-Determine the one thing God wants you do. (How does God want you to apply what you’ve learned to YOUR life?)
Y-Yearn; pray for God’s help to do what He wants you to do.
If we will consistently Pray and Study God’s Word, we will begin connecting the dots with God.
Notice I said “begin.”
3. We Need to Live More the Way God Wants
Deuteronomy 6: 17, “You must diligently obey the commands of the Lord your God—all the stipulations and laws He has given you.” (NLT)
We show God that we love Him when we obey His Word. Jesus said it Himself in John 14: 15, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” and again in John 14: 21, “Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me.”
Obedience and love cannot be separated. We might say that obedience is when we LIVE our LOVE for God. Using the word, LIVE, obedience to God is when our...
L - Love
I - Is
V - Visually
E - Expressed
Conclusion
We connect with God when we LOVE Him with all that we are.
If we love God, we will want to know Him, so we will LEARN more of God through Prayer and Study of His Word.
As we know God better, we will discover what He wants us do, so we will LIVE more the way God wants us to live by obeying what we have learned.
So the question I have for you this morning is this: “How connected to God are you today?”
Maybe you don’t have any connection with God. You’re just going through some spiritual motions, and you think that’s enough. It’s not. This morning I urge you to make a commitment to love God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. You can make that commitment right where you are if you want. But I’ll be standing here at the front in a moment when we start to sing, and I invite you to come forward and say to me, “I’ve never made the commitment to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, but I want to do that today.”
You may have been a Christian for a long time, but you feel “dis-connected” from God. If so, it’s likely because you’re not seeking to learn more of God personally through prayer and Bible study, or you’re not living in obedience to His Word in some area of your life. Confess that to God; ask for His forgiveness. And when we’re sincere in our asking, God will forgive, because He wants us to CONNECT with Him.
Let’s pray.
