What are you searching for?
Some of you are searching for the perfect mate. (Most are already taken, right honey?)
The Cub fans are searching for a World Series win, next year.
In the book the DaVinci Code, the fictional characters are searching for the Holy Grail, the cup Christ drank from during the last supper. That was the same thing King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table sought.
In the movie National Treasure, the fictional characters were searching for a massive lost treasure that was hidden during the Revolutionary War.
In the 80’s we were searching for Waldo. Where’s Waldo?
Everyone is on a quest for something, some of us know what we are looking for and others don’t have a clue.
Maybe we are searching for popularity, riches, friends, toys, prestige and honor, wisdom or even truth. People are searching for peace and quiet, they are searching for peace and contentment, and they are searching for peace in the world.
Some are searching for God, some are searching for answers, and some are searching for the meaning of life.
I am sure you have all seen a comic strip about people climbing a mountain to ask an old wise man the answer to a question they had been seeking.
And I am sure many of us have even asked God from time to time, why?
We are all searching for something. So, what are you searching for? Do you know?
PRAY
Father we ask for Your anointing on us today. Place Your anointing on me as Your messenger today.
Open our eyes so that we may see Your Word. Open our ears so that we may hear Your Word. Open our minds so that we may understand Your Word. Open our hearts so that we may receive Your Word today.
AMEN
READ John 14:8-14
Phillip was on a quest. He was searching for the something.
But he couldn’t quite get it. He is thinking, “how can Jesus words be true?”
Jesus tells him, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
Phillip is there with Jesus but he is scratching his head, wondering if he had missed something?
Phillip is thinking, “Just show us the Father. That’s what I need! I would love to see God! Jesus will you do that for us? Make the invisible God visible for us! That will do it. That’s all we need. That would be enough! Let us see God!”
Have you ever felt like Philip? Lord, are you there? Hello? Can You hear me now?
Phillip’s request is not that much different than anyone’s request today. We want to see God. We want to see the signs and the wonders so that we know God is there and then when we do see them we hope that our faith will grow.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe in the signs and the wonders. I believe in the manifestations of God doing great things for us and in us and through us and I look forward to seeing them take place whenever two or three are gathered in His name.
Our mission statement even says that we will accomplish the bringing of transformation into the lives of men and women, young and old, to convert the sinner, bring healing to the sick, and equip people to change the world for God through the un-compromised Word of God and through the demonstration and manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit…
So I look for the spectacular and the sensational, I want to see the miracles happen, but we need to understand that we can know God’s presence without physically seeing God.
The story is told that after Helen Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan, had given her the names of physical objects in sign language, Miss Sullivan attempted to explain God and shaped for her the symbols for the name “God.”
Much to Miss Sullivan’s surprise, Helen spelled back, “Thank you for telling me God’s name, Teacher, for he has touched me many times before. I always knew he was there, but I didn’t know what his name was.”
Helen Keller, in her blindness, could see the Father better than Philip could.
So Jesus makes his case clear to Philip, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves.”
Jesus calls Philip to look with the eyes of faith: to see more than flesh and blood.
He calls him to see and hear God the Father in every act and in every word. The evidence that Jesus offers to prove that seeing him is seeing the Father is simple. “My words and works are not mine; they are the Father’s.”
Jesus says in effect, “Here I am, Philip. The Father speaking and working in this body.”
Notice how Jesus uses extremely intimate language here, he says, “The Father is in me. I am in the Father.”
Jesus is God. Emmanuel, God with us. He is God in the flesh and it was a hard thing to understand.
But the truth is, if you want to see God then look at Jesus. There’s a definite family resemblance. More than that, there is an exact representation.
The Disciples saw God. They talked to God. They walked with God. They ate with God.
But what about us today? Can we see the Father today?
Is the Word of God just the written record of Jesus life and instructions so that we can be ready to see him some day in the future?
Can we see the God today? They did. Can we?
Without a doubt in my mind I can say with full assurance, you better believe we can see God today.
All you have to do is open up your eyes and see.
The Word of God tells us plainly in Psalm 102:27 the Psalmist is talking about God when he says, “But you remain the same…” And the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Jesus (who is God) is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
God is unchanging and the gifts of God are without repentance.
Do you know what that means? It means that God is still in the miracle, signs and wonders working, life transforming, healing, providing God that He has always been and He will always be that way.
It is in His nature to be unchanging and it is revealed to us in His Word and it is revealed to us in nature and it is revealed to us in each other because as the church we are called His Body.
He is alive and His love for you is real and His plans for us are real and they are amazing.
And the truth is that God really did send His Son to die for you and you really can have forgiveness of sins and your past can be washed clean and you really can find God and know Him personally and intimately. You can really experience His unconditional, unfailing love and He really is going to fulfill your dreams, desires, and needs.
Jesus promised in John, 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commandments and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him, and will show Myself to him."
Did you catch that last statement? Let’s read 21 again and let it sink in… “Whoever has My commandments and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him, and will show Myself to him."
Jesus is saying that if we do what he tells us, we love him and he will love us and show himself to us!
Do you believe this? They saw God and we can see God as well.
Anyone can find God. In fact, Josh McDowell writes, “There’s no secret to it. God in His great love desires for each of us to enjoy a relationship with Him.”
I stated earlier that we are all searching for something, for the answers, God has revealed Himself to us therefore in our quest we should take what God has revealed about Himself through the life of Jesus and follow Him.
When we do this, our faith becomes obedience, our obedience becomes our joy and our praise, and our joy and our praise comes because God begins to do things in our lives that we never thought would be possible.
The first thing God does for us is to give us salvation and forgiveness of sins.
The angels went to God in heaven and they reported to Him the condition of things upon the earth. They told God that 90% of the people were wicked and only 10% of them were good. So God told the angels, “Send a letter to the 10% that are good.”
How many of you know what that letter said?
You guys didn’t get one?
It is true that we are all sinners. No one is perfect, not me, not Debbie, certainly not our children, they are close, but not perfect. No one is perfect. We are all sinners but we are saved by grace. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Now honestly, how many of us ever thought it was possible for our lives to be taken out of the miry clay and placed upon solid ground with a hope for a future? Come on now.
But it doesn’t stop at salvation. There is so much more.
The miracles and gifts of God did not end when the last Apostle died. The miracles and gifts did not stop when the canon of Scripture came into being.
Remember what I said earlier, God is unchanging!
The same power He had in the Old Testament to split the Red Sea, provide bread and water for the Israelites, cleanse Namaan of leprosy, and hundreds of other miracles that are recorded in the Old Testament is still available today.
The same power that He had in the New Testament is also available today. When Jesus healed people, cast out demons, and raised people from the dead, including Himself, that power is available to each of us.
Remember what Jesus said in John 14:12-14? “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will even do greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Jesus was making water into wine. Jesus was healing the blind, the deaf, and the ones, who couldn’t speak. He was healing the lepers, the lame, and the ones with withered hands. He was casting out demons. He was healing the broken hearted. He was bringing people back to life, and He was bringing the message of redemption.
Guess what, we can do the same things through Him.
In Acts 20 we see that Paul took this promise of Jesus seriously. In that chapter Paul was preaching in an upstairs house church and it was late, and he was going on and on. One guy named Eutychus was sitting on a window seat and he fell asleep and fell out the window three stories down.
He died instantly.
Paul knew that the promises of Christ are yes and amen, so he jumped on top of the man and he was raised from the dead.
Peter and John knew that the promises of Christ were true. In Acts 3 when they were going up to pray they came across a poor, crippled beggar. Peter said to the man, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
Guess what? The man walked!
I could go on with other New Testament examples of how God used the Apostles in the first century church but how would that demonstrate that God is same today and forever?
We need some current examples.
How about a missionary in Africa who needed to get some water to a village? The nearest well was 2.5 miles away and it was 120 feet deep. That was a shallow well. The missionary prayed and started digging and he hit water 15 feet down.
In Costa Rica there was an 8 year old that was diagnosed with lung cancer. His mother called upon the Great Physician, their church began to fast and pray and this little boy was completely healed.
In Papua New Guinea a woman’s husband died and she prayed for 24 hours and he rose from the dead.
Well Pastor those things are all neat but they happened someplace else. We didn’t see them happen.
We have seen miracles happen here. Dave Nichols broken arm healed, Lois Phelps veins pronounced as clean as a babies. One lady came to church on a Sunday morning and she could not stand up straight, she threw her back out, we laid hands on her before church and she was running around because God healed her.
Friends, I don’t know what your quest is, but whatever it is I think that God is the answer.
No, I know that God is the answer.
He is Jehovah Jireh – He will provide. When there is no hope for provision He will meet our needs.
He is Jehovah Nissi – He is our banner. He is always there to help us.
He is Jehovah Shalom – He is our peace and He confirms that by His miracles.
He is Jehovah Shammah – He is there all the time and He desires to pour out His blessings on His people.
What are you searching for? God has the answer. He wants to display His power in our lives. They key is that we need to be doing what Christ was doing.
“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will even do greater things than these…” John 14:12
It is not a magic formula.
It is not dependant upon our faith.
When Christ is in us, the hope of glory is that we will do greater things through Christ, because we are called according to His purpose to do greater things.
The key is to be busy doing what Christ was doing. Loving, healing, teaching, giving, doing miracles, trampling on the expectations of the religious, and listening to God.
Our search is over.
We have found what we were looking for.
His name is Jesus, precious Jesus, the Anointed One, the Alpha and Omega, the Bright and Morning Star, the Holy One of God, Immanuel, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Prince of Life and the Prince of Peace.
What are you looking for?
Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
It goes on to say,
Isaiah 55:10-11 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
It goes on to say that we will have joy and peace and songs in our lives, instead of junk coming up in our lives we will have the Lord’s blessings flowing into our lives.
What are you looking for?
CLOSE.
