Encountering the Living God
Introduction
Good evening, friends. Even though it may be cold outside, there is a real warmth of the Spirit here tonight.
Tonight is Encounter Night, and our time together will be a little different from our usual evening services.
At the end of the service, you will have four options:
You may choose to remain here in quiet reflection, listening to the band as they play, taking the opportunity to encounter the Lord in stillness.
You may choose to come forward to the front row for prayer.
If you would like to chat and enjoy some refreshments, you may go to the back hall.
If you need to go home, that is perfectly fine as well.
But if you are here tonight, I believe it is because you desire to encounter the living God.
Each of us has a deep longing for a real, personal experience of God. And tonight, you have the opportunity to encounter the Lord in a way that transforms your life.
Tonight is not just about walking with God—it is about living for Him.
Tonight is about growing deeper in your relationship with the Lord, moving beyond just knowing about Him to truly knowing Him.
Tonight is about encountering a loving, holy, and powerful God on a personal level—not just singing about Him, not just speaking about Him, but experiencing Him.
A True Encounter with God
Think for a moment about someone you admire from a distance. Perhaps a famous politician, a cricket legend, a musician, or a TV chef. You might know a great deal about them, maybe even sing their praises. Perhaps you have even met them once and received an autograph. But do you truly know them? Do you know them as their family does?
An encounter with God is not meant to be a distant admiration or an emotional moment that fades away. A real encounter with God is transformational. It changes you from the inside out.
Isaiah had such an encounter, and it altered his life forever. Let’s look at his experience in Isaiah 6:1-8:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
The Transforming Power of Encountering God
Its an amazing moment when Isaiah says : “I saw the Lord”. He was not dreaming, He didn’t have a nightmare or vision caused by eating cheese before going to bed the night before.
He was not making up a story nor was this his imagination running riot. Isaiah experienced a real encounter with the living God, and it changed him forever.
Where he was praying, like an earthquake, the doorposts and the thresholds shook.
When Isaiah saw the Lord, the place shook, the temple filled with smoke, and he became aware of his own sinfulness. He cried out, “Woe to me! I am ruined!” In the presence of a holy God, he recognised his need for cleansing. And in God’s mercy, he was purified and commissioned for His purpose.
Friends, a true encounter with God is not just about an emotional moment; it is about transformation. It is about moving from where you are to where God wants you to be.
Encountering God Should Change Us
I came to faith when I was 17 years old. Over the years, I have seen people have real encounters with God—and I have also seen some who were just pretending.
How do I know they were just pretenders? Because despite the tears, the prayers, the outward displays, or appeared to be slain in the Spirit, they walked away unchanged., and carried on living and acting the same way they did before.
When you truly encounter God, your life cannot remain the same. You are convicted, you are cleansed, and you are commissioned.
I believe when we really encounter God, it changes us!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that in many churches throughout this world there are people who have never had an emotional encounter with God, let alone a true life changing encounter with Him.
There are people who outwardly may even try to appear holy and righteous but there has never been a real change in their life. They have never really encountered God. They really haven’t changed yet!
Think back to the moment you first gave your life to Christ.
That moment when you truly repented, turned to God, and experienced His forgiveness.
You were changed.
You knew that your sin separated you from God, and you cried out to Him.
You made a firm commitment to turn from your sin, and turn to God, to give your life to Him - to be sold out for Him, you gave your heart and life to Him forsaking everything else.
You cried out to God with all your heart, you felt anguish, you knew you had sinned against your Creator, the One who gave you life in the first place.
And, He saved you, He redeemed you, and He made you new.
That is what a true encounter with God does—it changes everything.
“Old things are passed away..”
You Encountered God - you were ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, born again, changed, Saved!
Are You Ready for a Deep Encounter?
Some people only ever have surface-level encounters with God. They might experience an emotional moment, but their hearts remain unchanged. But a deep encounter with God transforms you from the inside out.
Are you willing to encounter God in a way that truly changes your life?
Friends, if we really want to encounter God we need to get emotional about serving the Lord
We have to be willing to give God our feelings and emotions
There is a place, a line in the sand, that we step over and our life is changed forever!
Are you ready to step beyond shallow experiences and into the depths of His presence?
This isn’t a shallow place - it’s a deep encounter in God.
Sometimes when you get to this place all you can do is speak in the spirit.
-words can’t describe what happening to you
-but when you stand up, you’re different!
-you’re not the same anymore!!!
The chains of this world have fallen off and the Devil has no grip on your life.
You have a new purpose and desire to please the Lord like you’ve never had before!
Some encounters with God cause an overflow of emotions, and that is ok, an emotional encounter may not change your life, but there is a deeper place in God.
There is a place of deep encounter - Deep encounter is what produces change.
Do you desire this, this evening?
Are you willing to let an Encounter with the King of Glory really change your life?
Do you yearn for an intimate Encounter with God?
Tonight is the night it can happen for you!
God is here to meet with you in an intimate way this evening!
Let God touch your life, and you will be changed!
When God touches you, you’re changed!
You’re new! Old things are put away!
You can’t Encounter God and walk away the same!!
Joy is renewed.
Peace in God is restored.
When you have a real encounter with Him, even the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you think is different! -it’s a spiritual walk!
We all need to be able to say, “I saw the Lord”
We need to ask the Lord this evening, and I am talking to everyone, to open our eyes so that we might see Him working clearly!!
One of the biggest problems in many churches is people not being able to see in the Spirit what is going on.
People all wrapped up in their own desires and goals.
People who care more about personal things, and don’t care about Encounter God.
When Isaiah encountered God, he said: “Here am I, send me”
He got involved in what God was doing, he put aside his own priorities to and let God take control
In 2 Kings 6:17 Elisha prayed for his servant “O Lord open his eyes that he may see”
If you want to be used by God; -you need to be able to say “I saw the Lord”
Its time we ask the Lord ourselves, “Lord Open my eyes that I can see” - let me see the lost as you see them - let me see how I can encourage others - let me see you Lord, more clearly so I can do things the way you would do them.
God’s Presence Brings Change
Isaiah’s encounter with God changed his life. When he saw the Lord, his first response was, “Woe is me!” When we truly encounter God, we see His holiness—and we recognise our need for His mercy and grace.
When we enter into His presence, His light reveals the areas of our lives that need transformation. Just like a dimly lit restaurant might hide a stain on your shirt, without the light of God’s presence, we may not even recognise the things that need changing in our lives. But when He shines His light on us, we see clearly—and we have a choice to make.
Will we allow God to change us?
When we encounter His mercy, His justice and perfection, we come face to face with our own sad reality of imperfection!
His light, reveals the flaws in our lives. In the light of his presence, we can see all those things that are against His desires and his ways.
We immediately recognise the changes he wants to make within us and we can say is:“Woe is me”
Imagine your in a restaurant where the lighting is poor.
And you drop or spill some food on your shirt, blouse or tie. You take some water and a napkin and try to wipe it off and think you’ve got it.
In the dim light of the restaurant, you think you’ve taken care of the problem. But later on, you get home and the lighting is better, you see the problem is still there. The original stain is still there, and there are all other stains caused by you trying to fix it.
Without proper light, without proper vision we end up making the problem worse!
That’s why we need to encounter the Lord in His perfect light.
We must encounter God with an open heart.
We must encounter God with a desire to be changed.
A Call to Encounter and Change
Many people resist changing! They refuse to admit they need to change! So they only have an emotional encounter with God from time to time but they continue to live, talk, and act the same way they always did.
Encountering Gods presence should make us sensitive, open, willing to be different!
2 Chronicles 7:14 reminds us: “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”
Do you truly want to encounter God tonight?
Then seek Him. Pray. Open your heart to Him. Allow Him to transform you.
Let me close with this verse from
2 Chronicles 7:14 God is speaking to his people:
“If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear form Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”
Will you stand with me as we pray?
Closing Prayer
Lord, we stand in Your presence.
We admit we are not perfect.
Cleanse us.
Purify our hearts.
We want to encounter You in a way that changes us.
Lord, here we are. Use us.
Let us never be the same again.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
