I am a friend of God
Illus. When electricity became available in remote rural areas, one woman went to great trouble and expense to have electricity installed in her home.
A few months after the wiring was installed and the power was turned on; the power company noticed that the home didn’t use very much power.
Fearing that there was a problem they sent a meter reader to check on the matter.
The meter reader saw that the power was indeed working properly and then asked the woman,
“Do you use your electricity?” The woman replied, “Of course we do. We turn it on every night to see to light our lamps and then we turn it off.”
Kind of crazy, don’t you think? Having all of the power that you need and the ability to tap into it all of the time, but only using it just enough to “get by.”
No one we know, would do that, we can’t hardly stand it, when the power is out at all, especially if it's hot outside.
However, some people do just what the woman in the story did, week in and week out with the power and presence of God.
How's come, most people will go out of their way to go to church, but have little relationship with god through the week.
Can you imagine, coming to a service like we have had numerous times, and not wanting to experience that same anointing, power and presence of God, all through the week?
Why is it human nature to go through difficulties day after day and only when we come to the end of our rope, not knowing what to do, that we ask for God’s help, only in the 911 emergencies?
We have Gods help and His power at our disposal all of the time but yet we attempt to get by on our own strength everyday.
At times, some people are a lot more like the woman who wouldn’t use her electricity more than just occasionally, than we would like to admit.
We need to experience the presence of God to experience His power. Just like electricity, is powerless if it's never turned on, so are we, when we remove the presence of God from our lives; we also remove the power.
EX 33:12-19 Amp.
12.Moses said to the Lord, See, You say to me, Bring up this people, but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You said, I know you by name and you have also found favor in My sight.
13.Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You [progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, perceiving and recognizing and understanding more strongly and clearly] and that I may find favor in Your sight. And [Lord, do] consider that this nation is Your people.
14.And the Lord said, My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.
15.And Moses said to the Lord, If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here!
16.For by what shall it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight? Is it not in Your going with us so that we are distinguished, I and Your people, from all the other people upon the face of the earth?
17.And the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have asked, for you have found favor, loving-kindness, and mercy in My sight and I know you personally and by name.
18.And Moses said, I beseech You, show me Your glory.
19.And God said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, THE LORD, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness.
When we are in and walk in the favor of God, we are set apart from the world, we have an advantage over the rest of the world,
some might say its an unfair advantage, but really it's not, God is not a respect or of persons, because everyone can have it, if they would only choose to have it!
We should feel privileged that we have been chosen for God said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, THE LORD, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness.
God created all of humanity to have a intimate, personal relationship with Him, everyday of the week, not just on Sundays.
TBS. God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, they were able to completely enjoy His divine presence.
God’s desire for your life is to have that same kind of relationship with Him, that's why Jesus came to this earth, to provide the reconciliation God wanted to re-establish with His people! Amen?
He wants you to not only to be able to walk in His presence, but also to able to experience His power in your life on a continual basis.
Moses speaks with God here and simply reminds God of His promises, "God You said this"....did you know that it's ok to remind God of His promises?
Why does Moses do this?
Well let me tell you, it's not like God forgot the promises He made.
Moses really wanted to know, because God had removed His presence from the Israelite camp!
There was no longer a sense of God’s presence within the nation of Israel, it had to be the saddest time in their history.
They had stopped seeking and depending on God like they once had and started seeking in themselves for the answers.
TBS. When you seek Me, you shall find Me
How many people do the same thing, their just going through the motions,
How many come into church’s all across the globe, week after week having no real relationship with God?
Well some might say, at least they are going to church, what's the big deal?
They are not seeking more of God, why would anyone want to have access to the light switch and not turn it on in their life, to light the way?
If we settle for what we have already experienced with God, that's not growing.
Last weeks blessing is not meant to have to last you forever! Gods mercies are continually new!
If you put water in a bucket and set it outside, if you don't stir it up occasionally, it becomes stagnant.
The truth is, a lot of Christians need to be stirred up, yesterday's blessing is just that, it's yesterday's,
we cannot just simply settle for a cup of water anymore, when we have access to the well, that will never run dry!
Wether your experiencing new blessings from God or not, one thing you can take to the bank, "He's Doing Them"
God is constantly doing new things, and He wants to take us to new Highs.
When Moses sought God, he did it through knee mail, not email! Amen?
One of the biggest problems in the church today is that people want all the benefits from an intimate relationship with God, but don’t want to seek it out or take the time to develop it.
So and so are Christians and God blesses them all them time, I'm a Christian, my momma was a Christian, so I ought to have the same blessing that they have at least.
What they should wonder is, "what kind of relationship does one have to have to be blessed the way God blesses them?"
Mommas relationship, will never get it done and it's sad, now don't get me wrong, God will honor Mommas prayers...
but so many think that that alone should qualify them, for Gods blessing in their own life as well.
Sounds like the same entitlement mentality that exists in the world today!
If you want to be a friend of God, you need to be a friend to God and get to know Him, up close and personnel.
Developing an intimate relationship with God takes time and effort.
You would think everyone would want to get to know the one their going to spend forever with, before it's time to go there, wouldn't you? .
Notice what Moses says to God:
1.) Teach me your ways - Moses wants to know God’s ways so he can keep following.
When we became Christians, I can't speak for everyone, but I wanted to learn all I could about my creator.
2.) Let me know you - There is direct connection between knowing the ways of God and knowing God Himself.
There is a big difference from knowing about Him, to actually knowing Him, we cannot say that we know God if we do not know His Word,
The Bible, (Best Instructions Before Leaving Earth) every answer will ever need in life, and everything we would ever have need of, you can find in the Bible!
It is only when we know God personally that we can expect to be called His own and receive what He has in store for us.
3.) Let me live in your favor - Once we know God’s ways and know God personally, than the favor of God can and will rest, in and on our lives.
Gods goodness and mercy will follow you, Psalms 23 says "surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life!"
Duet. 28:2 RSV
2 all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God
It is impossible for you to have the divine favor of God in your life if you don’t know God.
When we live to know God’s ways and to know God more, He pours out His favor into our lives and all of the Blessing that goes with it! "Praise God!"
If God is not present in our lives, we are not pleasing Him.
ok preacher, that's pretty direct, so how do we live to please God?
1. We please God by loving Him
Matthew 22:37-40 MSG
37-40 Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
Our first priority is to love God with every fiber of our being.
He desires to have the first place, up front and center in our lives and also that we should treat others the same way we would like to be treated.
These two commands are pegs; everything, "Everything" in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them
2. We please God by believing in Him
Hebrews 11:5-6 MSG
By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
There is no way that we will ever be able to please God if we do not believe in Him and what He can do for us, in and through our lives.
We place our faith in God when we trust Him completely, even when life doesn’t make sense.
911 is great, but why not call on Jesus in the first place, before it ever escalates to a 911 emergency?
When life seems to make no sense at all, that is when we need to trust God the most!
It's when we set up camp in Gods camp to stay no matter what happens, that's when we enter into the peace that passes all understanding and it's an awesome place to live,
It's the only place of its kind in existence! Praise God! And we have an open invitation, that says come,
Matthew 11:28 NKJ
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
3. We please God by obeying Him
John 15:11-15 MSG
“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.
Jesus told His disciples that they become friends with God when you do the things He ask you to do
I like being called a friend of God, don't you? and if were going to be called a friend, hadn't we better be doing the things He tells us to do?
True friends Trust each other, you know no matter what, you can count on Him to be whatever you need Him to be!รถ
4. We please God by praising Him
Psalm 150:1-2 Amp.
1.PRAISE THE Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!
2.Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!
God deserves our praise for every single blessing He sees fit to give us, even if we never received another blessing, He would deserve our praise forever, for what He has already done for each one of us! Amen?
Even the smallest blessing from God, is more than we could ever do for ourself, with a lifetime of effort! Amen?
That’s why we have and take the time each week in Thursdays service, for praise reports,
but if you really think about it, it's something that we should all do on a daily basis and be thankful for all that He does for us!
The song writer had it right, as to what we should do, when they penned the song "count your blessings" name them one by one, see what God has done!
Take time today to count your blessings, they will always out way and out number the things you think you need, or that you don't have in your life.
5. We please God by serving Him
God wants you to live out your life serving Him.
Yes there many things and ways you can get involved in the church, because there are a lot of things that will always need to be done.
But True service is lived out each and every day. In every area and aspect of your life, serving God and doing everything as unto God!
Make a point as to what ever you do, do your best,
Your boss is not in charge of the promotions, that's right you guessed it, God is.
So everything you do, do it as unto Him, God is the only one who can take you places, you can't even imagine! amen?
TBS in;
Matthew 25:37-40 MSG
37-40 “Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’
Jesus said the greatest commandment was to,
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
The more we seek and follow God, the more He will do and keep all of His promises to each of us, all along our journey all the way to eternity!
Ex. 33:17 AMP
And the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have asked, for you have found favor, loving-kindness, and mercy in My sight and I know you personally and by name.
That’s the kind of relationship He longs to have with you and that’s the kind of relationship you should want to have with Him.
So you can say with complete confidence....I am a friend of God, He knows my name, He knows everything about me and He loves me!
Aren't you glad you know Him today, then help someone else this week by giving away what you have, help someone else become a friend of God
Amen, Lets pray!
