“Close Encounters”
Pt. 3 - The Time
Review – You are going to get sick of this, but I want to make sure that you not only know it by memory but you know it by heart. Our mandate is simply to Encounter, Equip, and Engage. We illustrate this by Hands Up, Hands Open, Hands Out. We will do nothing more and nothing less.
So two weeks ago I challenged you that we must press into a Close Encounter with God. A simple encounter will not do because there is a huge difference between an encounter and a close encounter. We are determined to be a 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 church, where the glory of the Lord is so strong that it fills this place and our lives.
Then last Sunday I began dealing with the terms or conditions that we must meet in order to have a Close Encounter. We are required to be hungry. Our cravings drive our appetite so in order for our appetite to change you must change your cravings. I want you to crave God with every fiber of your being. So much so that you will do weird things to get to Him if you have too. Like get up early. Refuse to go where everyone else goes, etc. Second, we are required to be honest. Too many of us put on a show when we get to church and the fantasy that we play out keeps us from having a close encounter with God or with each other. Third, we must be holy. I didn’t say perfect, but on a genuine pursuit of holiness. We can’t ask God to make holiness or righteousness fit us, but we must fit and live up to His standards.
That brings us to today. There is a very crucial element that we must take into consideration if we truly long for and are willing to pursue a close encounter with God.
I believe that in order for us to have a close encounter with God we must be willing to invest our time in Him. Notice I didn’t say spend time I said invest time.
1. What we want
Our struggle is that we are accustomed to, desire and even demand convenience. We live life at such a fast pace that we want everything fast, immediate, and instantaneously.
For example, now not only do want our convenience stores convenient we want them with drive thrus. We want drive-thru weddings. We are in such a hurry that since we no longer have the time to lay out we want fake tans, but laying in a tanning bed takes at least 15 minutes several time in a row so now we want a spray tan that only takes a fraction of the time. We read cliff notes, find large amounts of research with one click of a button, and microwave our food. The fast and the furious is not really a movie about cars, it is a statement about our life.
And then we come to church! We don’t gripe when we have to stand in line at the Hornet’s game, or about the wait in the concession stand movies, or when we have to wait 45 minutes in line at Disney to ride the ride but for some reason we get very cranky, antsy, and aggravated when we can’t seem to encounter God in 20 minutes.
We have tried to limit God to our time. We need to understand that God was before time, created time, operates in time, but is not limited or controlled by our time. God will not be held hostage to our watch or even our calendar.
2. Types of time
What we must understand is the different types of time. Throughout Scripture there are two words used for time. The first is the Greek word “Chronos” from which we get our word “chronological”. This word denotes quantity of time. It is the idea of calendar time. The second word for time that is used is “Kairos” which has an entirely different meaning. This word means, “A divine appointment with God.” It deals with the quality of time rather than the quantity of time.
Kairos time is worth fighting for and protecting. Do you realize that throughout the entirety of Scripture, which we believe spans approximately 1600 years to write, there are only 168 times that the word Kairos is used. 168 divine appointments with God in 1600 years.
You can’t afford to miss a kairos moment. They are too few and far between. You can’t afford to miss a Sunday service where you have a close encounter with God. You can’t miss that quite moment with Him where all time stops. You can’t miss your divine appointments and expect to get them back. Opportunities are not postponed they are lost forever.
Our issue is that too many of us are we are willing to forfeit kairos time just to save a few moments of chronos time. Just get me in and out. Don’t make me have to give up more than this allotted time. If God moves on my schedule fine and if He doesn’t fine, but I only have this much time for Him. So we live our lives filled with chronos time and wonder what happened to the kairos moments we used to know.
3. The Art of Tarrying
I believe that we have lost the art of tarrying. In fact, you rarely ever hear that term “tarry” used any more. The truth is that some of you in this room may have never even heard this term used in church. The word “tarry” simply means to wait. We don’t like to wait on God. We like for Him to wait on us.
Yet, throughout Scripture we discover the principle that if you want to have a close encounter with God it requires waiting. I referred you to Genesis 32:24-26 last week. I want to draw your attention back there this morning. Look at what it says, “24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”
Did you catch it? He wrestled all night. He held on, he took time. It was not a quick encounter. It took time. It wasn’t seven minutes and I am out of here. It wasn’t even 45 minutes and I am out of here. I’m sorry I only have 50 minutes slotted and scheduled for you this week. Could you get on with it? No, he held on as long as needed to get what he needed which was a close encounter with God.
Jesus understood tarrying. We often refer to the scene in the garden where he is investing an hour of his time in prayer and chastises his disciples for being unable to tarry one hour. We seem to settle in on the 60 minute issue as if there was something holy or special about the quantity of time Jesus asked for. However, what we fail to grasp about Jesus is that throughout his ministry here on earth the Bible teaches us that Jesus had two customs. As was His custom he would enter the synagogue on the Sabbath and as was His custom he would slip away for time with God. I don’t believe Jesus was as focused on the 60 minute issue as He was on the idea of taking time at a crucial moment to seek the face of God.
I remind you of Isaiah 40:31 teaches us “31But those who wait upon GOD get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.”
Are you weak? Are you tired? Are you exhausted? Have you been faltering and failing? I think most of us end up in that condition because we have discarded the idea of waiting. We are ready to stop right when He is ready to step in. We are pulling out of the parking lot right when He is ready to move. Waiting is not a passive term where you enter this trance like state and sit for hours lost in a never, never world with no brain function or activity. No, it is an active pursuit of His presence where we pull aside from the noise of life. Away from the distractions. Away from the chaos of life. Time to draw close to Him and allow Him to draw close to us. We must learn to tarry again. The word wait is the Hebrew word "qawah" and means to wait or await with the notion of holding on to strongly, and during the time you wait you become wound together with the object you are waiting for or on. A lot of us are wound up, but we aren’t wound up with Him and so we wind up with a lot of other things.
4. Our commitments and my challenge
With all of that said, and before you get nervous let me tell you some things about where we stand on the issue time.
a. I don’t believe in wasting time. Time is precious and we will guard your time. What does that mean practically? We won’t keep you here just to justify our existence. We will protect your time.
b. We believe in protecting the "flow" of the Holy Spirit. We will not hurry. We will not break the "flow" for unnecessary activities. When God is moving we won’t leave and won’t shut it down just to meet a deadline or fit a time constraint. At the same time, we won’t prolong just to feel like we have had church. We will simply enjoy the presence that we pursue!
My challenge to you this week is this: commit the time to have a close encounter with Him. Get alone with Him all by yourself. But also, when you start towards this place get ready. It won’t take us as long if you arrive with a spirit of expectation. It is the spirit of expectation that makes churches different. The atmosphere of expectancy is indeed the breeding grounds of miracles. We get what we expect! God inhabits prepared places! Commit to taking this weekly time away from everything else and finding Him. We are basically challenging you to take a little over two hours a week to enter His presence and to be trained to take His presence outside these four walls. Give this time your 100% attention and effort. Believe with us this time together each week is a kairotic moment. You can’t afford to miss it and you can’t afford to enter it distracted or half-heartedly. Jesus’ disciples couldn’t tarry and they couldn’t stand. If you don’t learn to wait on Him you will fall.
I challenge you to seek Him while He can be found. How many of you have a best friend? How did that happen? Time. Invest your time in a relationship with Him. Do you have time for Him? Are you rushing past Him? Not caught up on the quantity, but the quality! Some of you need a word from Him. Some of you need a moment with Him. Some of you need to hear Him calling your name again. Some of you need strength. Some of you need power. Some of you need answers and directions. Take the time to listen.
