CAN A PERSON HAVE AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE LIVING GOD SERIES?
Part 1
Acts 4:1-32a.
I usually start the next week message after I preach on Sunday Morning. I have been switching back and forth from Joshua to teachings on the Fruit of the spirit. By Monday evening I though that I had everything outline and I could let what I had down work in my mind for a bit. On Tuesday morning I started to pick away at the body of the message but I couldn’t seem to get anywhere so I just lean back in my chair and began to just think about the word of the lord.
I have found that for me when the Holy Spirit wants me to go in a completely different direction that he usually works this way. By opening up my mind to the Holy Spirit allowed the Holy Spirit to get me thinking about all the people in the bible that have had an encounter with the Lord. Then I got to wondering is that possible today. The Holy Spirit told me it is possible. As I though about this topic the Holy Spirit flooded my mind with a whole lot of information. I believe that you and I can have an encounter with the Lord that will completely change our lives. One of the things that we will look at is what is stopping us from having that encounter and what do we need to do so that we are always ready to encounter the lord Jesus. Two cows standing in a field saw a milk truck pass by. Painted on the side of the truck in large letters was; Prairie Farmer Milk, Homogenized, Sanitized and Vitamin Enriched. One cow spoke up and said, that makes me feel kind of inferior! Well if we are human then I am sure that we have at times felt that way. I know that I’ve found myself at different function with other pastors and thought to myself I don’t belong here. I have found that when we start thinking like that we become overwhelmed and convinced that where inferior. We share a common problem with those cows in that we all have a limited perspective. Those dairy cows failed to see that the shiny milk truck that made them feel inferior had just left the milk house where they were milked each day. The milk that they thought was so much better than theirs was in fact their milk! We need to learn to see what God is doing in and through His church and in and through our lives.
Jesus said in Matthew 18:20. When two or three of you are together because of me you can be sure that I’ll be there.
We know that scripture from heart but do we ever stop and really listen to the words of Jesus. According to what Jesus has said it doesn’t require a big crowd for Jesus to be present. Jesus is present in churches where a thousand are gather. But Jesus said that if just two or three have come together in the name of Jesus then according to the promise of Jesus; he is there. This tells me two things. Everytime we come together to worship that Jesus is here in this building meeting with us. It also allows me to see the heart of Jesus; that Jesus wants to be with His people. When we gather together as body of Christ do we experience the power and presence of God or are we so busy with our own stuff that we miss experiencing the lord. I often say that we bring the Sanctuary of the Lord together and that is true but in our churches today are people sitting in churches realizing that they have an opportunity to have a real encounter with the Living God. I believe when people gather in the name of Jesus there is always the opportunity for Satan to get us so preoccupied with other things that we miss an encounter with the living God. But it doesn’t have to be that way. How can we experience God’s presence with us? As we gathered here today do we know beyond just head knowledge that the living God is right here with us?
What do I meant when I talk about the presence of God? It simply means that God’s presence can be experienced in many different and unique ways. Experiencing the presence of God is not a rerun of the same thing over and over. Nor is it running around the building or doing something that would be an embarrassing to you or to the Lord Jesus. An ordinary gathering of the people of God can and should have extraordinary possibilities when we recognize that the presence of Jesus is with us. I believe and I am praying that we as a church and as individuals will have an encounter the living God not just within the confines of a Sunday morning worship service, but that we discover God’s presence and power is with us even at work or play making the impossible possible and transforming the inferior to superior!
In today scripture we find that the early church had to deal with the fact that their pastors were arrested! Let me ask you. What would you do if I was arrested? Would you all get together and pray for me or would you figure that I would solve the problem. The early church didn’t have members of government that they could run to. The church was in a community where they were going against tradition that was thousands of years old.
When I went to Saint John I applied for a grant so that the church could do a survey to find out what religion the people in the community were a part of. I remember Wayne telling me that we should move the church because everybody in the community belongs to the two main religions and that they wouldn’t be interested in coming to the Nazarene church. I told Wayne that it wasn’t costing the church anything to find out. When we finished the community survey I allowed the church board to look at the results. When Wayne saw the results he said I am astonished. I asked him why? He said because he had put everyone in the same box and he realized that over 90 percent of the people said they would go to a church that was Biblical and allowed people to seek the Lord be following the teaching of the scripture as shared by the pastor. They also said they wanted to hear worship music that encouraged them to worship in a personal way. We started the church in Saint John with three other than Barb and I and four years later we had reached 75. The people came from the community that Wayne said it was impossible to reach. The people kept coming back because they were having an encounter with the Living Lord.
The early church was started in an area that we 99% Jewish; YET IT WAS THE LORDS PLAN THAT A CHURCH BE PLANTED THERE BECAUSE THE TRADITIONAL CHURCH WASN’T REACHING OUT TO TOUCH THE PEOPLE WITH THE GOSPEL MESSAGE. The early church had no religious or political power and if we look at then with our modern mindset we would think they must be crazy to think they can be successful. These folks were facing all kinds of problems, but they didn’t let external difficulties keep them from encountering the living God. One of the key things about the early church is that they actually believed that God would meet them right where they were. When Peter and John were released they went back to the church and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When the church heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer expecting the Lord to answer. I want you to know that you can read this scripture and make it a prayer but if you do that you have better be prepared for what the Lord will do.
Do you remember that last week I mention that when we prayed we have to be prepared for the Lords answer because there is a very good chance the Lords answer will be completely different than what I think the answer should be? When the church prayed they expected an answer but I wonder if the answer they got was the answer they expected. Notice how God responded to the prayers of the church; the place was shaken. I don’t know if there was an earthquake or if it was only a sensation, but God made His presence know in a physical way. The Bible say in Verse 31b they were all filled With the Holy Spirit and they all began to speak the Word of God with boldness. God had answered their prayers! The church experienced the power and presence of God.
1. Believers must have an Expectancy a desire to have an Divine Encounter with the Lord in order for the lord to Responds to our Faith.
Hebrews 11:6. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
The bible says that it is according to our faith whether what we pray for will happen. Well the early church had tremendous faith in the Lord Jesus and it was according to their faith that they had a encounter with the living God. I believe the church today needs to have a divine encounter with the living God but I wonder if the Church today has a hunger for such a movement of the Lord. I wonder how many people are in churches today because they have a desire to experience God’s presence in a new and fresh way.
I was reading a novel about a family who were looking for a church. When they finally found a church the father was asked what he liked abut the church. The father said that the church didn’t expect a whole lot from him and the messages just kind of encourage you to be nice so you can get to heaven. I guess the best part of this new church was that we met all the right people. The father was asked if the pastor ever talk about Jesus or Salvation. The father responded I know that Jesus is a good person at least that is what our minister says and that He had something to do with the Bible but our minister only mention that once and said that as long as we did more good than bad we were ok.
I believe that in today’s churches many of the people that go never hear anything about the cross or salvation. To hear about Jesus and what Jesus accomplished on the cross should be the desire of our spiritual lives. In churches today do people sense the presence of our supernatural God? What is the expectation when we join together as the church do we expect experience God’s presence, or do we just expect another church service kind of like business as usual? We need to have an supernatural expectation of the Divine Lord which will allows for the unlimited supernatural possibilities to occur when God shows up with His people. The early church had an expectation that God would show up and that the people could feel and sense the Lords presence among them. Jesus told his followers that when they were together in His Name, He would be present with them and they believed it. In Acts 3 Peter and John were on their way to the temple when they had their encounter with the beggar man at the temple door. When they stop to deal with the beggars request Peters statement informs us that he and John believed in their hearts that Jesus would actually honour their request. I can picture the beggar expecting to receive some money form Peter and John but I wonder what went through his mind when he heard Peter say silver and gold I have none. Would he wish that they never stopped? Then he heard what Peter was actually saying; in the name of Jesus Christ walk I can almost imagine the beggar having this great big smile as he now had an expectancy that she was going to get something. Peter expectation was that this cripple man would be healed.
I want to ask you what your expectancy is when you pray for people. Do we actually believe that the Lord will answer our prayer or do we feel, well we did our duty and we carry on with our lives.
2. A DIVINE ENCOUNTER WITH THE LORD HAS TWO REQUIREMENTS.
A. A CHILD OF THE LORD NEEDS TO HAVE THE HABIT OF PRAYING TO HAVE AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE LORD.
B. A CHILD OF THE LORD NEEDS TO BE PART OF A BODY OF BELIEVERS THAT IS SEEKING TO HAVE AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE LORD.
The Bible informs us that the early church met regularly for services but today we have problem just trying to get people to come to services once a week. Though the Bible does inform us what the early church prayed for when the met regulary but I believe that they not only prayed for one another but they prayed for their leaders and for the purpose of the Lord Jesus to be fulfilled in and through their lives. If our desire is to experience the dynamic and powerful presence of God, then we must become like the early church and develop the desire to make it our habit to be together as the body of Christ. Did you know that one of the simplest and best ways that we can encourage one another and be a witness to our neighbor and friends is to be faithful to gather for our times of worshiping together? I believe it is the will of the Lord Jesus that the church today should be a living example of the first/early church. To be like them we need to learn to do what they did so that we can become an example to our community like they did. If we ignore Jesus throughout the week if we never pray or read the scripture then it shouldn’t be a surprise to us if when we gather on Sunday that we can’t sense the presence of the Holy Spirit.
I believe that in many churches today that when they gather for Sunday services that there is no presence of the Holy Spirit ministry in the service.
Hebrews 10:26-29. If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment–and a mighty fierce judgment it will be! If the penalty for breaking the Law of Moses is physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on God’s Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit?
I believe that as the Day the moment of Christ second coming for His Church draws near, it will be increasingly more and easier for members of the church to act like the world and that’s dangerous which make one wonder about Jesus question in Luke.
Luke 18:8. Jesus asked if at His return if there would be faith on the earth. We must make the conscious choice to recognize the presence of Christ that is with us. We can not ignore Jesus. The consequence may be greater than we are willing to pay.
Prayer was an essential and fundamental part of the early church life. We can also see that the early church wasn’t living in the shadow they were out in the community talking about their faith. We know from scripture that the early church actually lived their faith in their community. The community could see that the Christians actually depended on God through prayer to see them through every day, and the community could see that God came through every time!
I believe that if we live out the same kind of faith as the early church exhibited in their lives; in our lives that we will have the same result in our lives and community as the early church did.
Is the church in the books of Acts any different than the church today? YES. Should it be? No.
Is the God they prayed to; the God we pray to? YES.
Just as the early church had an encounter with the Living God I believe that we too can have a God encounter today; if we are willing to draw near to God. The Lord will respond to our faith by coming near to us and making His power and presence known! The God who shook them is the God who needs to shake us. The God who filled them is the God who desires to fill us with His Holy Spirit. The God who empowered them to speak is the God who will empowers you and me to speak boldly about Jesus Christ.
Their encounter with God must be our encounter. God does not look at us in our size, buildings, programs, and not even our singing and preaching. He looks upon us to see whether we desire to have an encounter Him.
One of the ways we can encounter the Lord is through Communion. As a body of believers let’s seek our living lord as we remember his death on the cross and as we look forward to his coming again.
A very special thank you to S.C. for some great ideas.
