Man’s Greatest Pursuit
Drawing Nearer (2)
Play the guitar… (mention that you have something special for them and that you knew all week that this moment was coming)… NOW – there really is a point to what I just did and as you probably figured out it is not to display my great musical talent.
ALRIGHT – week 2 of Deeper Impact is underway… Do you have your Bible? Your study notes? Now you will notice that your notes have holes punched in them, that is because I want you to pick up a three ringer binder and put your notes in them… AND – you may want to get one like this… Because we have a guy working on some graphics for Deeper Impact and pretty soon we will have something pretty cool to slip in front…
NOW TONIGHT - I am going to do a better job of giving you time to turn in your bibles… I will be reading from the NIV primarily. BUT - occasionally I will read a passage from another version, when I think it gives the text a different flavor… AND - the texts that are not from the NIV, will be in your notes and/or on the screen…
HEY – IF you would turn to the person next to you and tell them how your week was? On a scale from zero to ten, ten being like you step on the scale this morning and you lost 15 pounds… AND – one being like you stepped on the scale and it said, “are you sure you want to do this..” HEY - I had a good week, thanks for asking… NOW - it wasn’t that good, but it was a good week.
IF – you were here last Wednesday night, would you raise your hands…
NOW – you don’t have to raise your hands on this one (unless you really want to), BUT – for those who just had their hands in the air did you do your homework?
Did you…
1) Spend some time (during the last 7 days) looking at creation. Looking up in the sky (and allowing yourself to be blown away by the greatness of your God). Do you slow down and really look at a few sunrises or sunsets, or look up and look at the stars?
2) Reminding yourself that the Lord of all creation wants to draw close to you
3) Reflecting on the kind of life that God wants to breathe into you…
4) Stay hungry
AND – did you do your Extra Credit – did you pray for the person whose name was on the card you picked up (and by the way there are more cards this week…)
NOW LAST WEEK – as I began laying the foundation for our studies on drawing nearer to God through Spiritual Disciplines … My Goal was pretty simple
#1 to REMIND you of how great your God is!
HE – is huge! HE – is mighty! HE – is the King of kings and the LORD of lords…HE – is the creator of all we see… With just a word… HE – brought into existence all that we see.
AND – #2 to I wanted you to realize, to accept the awesome truth that this all powerful, all knowing, all present King of glory wants to draw closer to you… (He ‘really’ does). AND LISTEN – no matter how close you think He is in your life right now; Yahweh, the Great I Am, longs to draw closer…
QUESTION – who here like me, when you think about how awesome our God is and then look at yourself is totally blown away! (Hard to believe isn’t it?) BUT – it is true… Being close to you, IS God’s greatest desire… AND – my friends if you ever doubt this, one looked at the blood stained cross will remove all doubt… YES - the cross proclaims God’s desire to be close to you… (whirl pool 1100 light years)
NOW – before we move on tonight I feel compelled to give you a warning. IN FACT – I probably should have given it to you last week. BUT ANYHOW – here goes… SINCE – you drawing closer to Him, is God’s greatest desire… God’s greatest enemy (satan) will do everything that he can to keep this from happening.
GUYS – here is the bottom line, just as Pharaoh went after the nation of Israel as soon as they were delivered from slavery in Egypt (I MEAN – God’s people had barely left the city limits and Phaoraoh is; gathering his army, grabbing his weapons, hopping on his chariot and going after them…)
LISTEN DURING - the next 70 days, especially during these first few weeks, the evil one is going to gather his army and every weapon he has ever used to defeat you in the past (and a few more beside) and go after you…
UNDERSTAND – now that you have been delivered, he can no longer do anything about you being saved… BUT – he can keep you from living your life in the land of promise… (IN – that; never anxious about anything, peace beyond understanding, joyful always, content in every and any situation, my week was a ‘10’ land).
QUESTION – has the evil one been after anyone in this room…? I MEAN – have things gone down in your (life, home, job, relationships, in your head) that have made drawing closer to Him more difficult?
LISTEN – the truth is we are going to have TO WANT closeness with God more than anything else or it is just not going to happen… AND THAT – is exactly what Jeremiah 29:13,14, one of our theme verses for this study is talking about…
Let’s take a look at this verse in it’s context… (written 700 years BC to a people who were living in exile (in captivity), to a people who were not living how or where God desired.)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (God had awesome plans for them and if they wanted to see the plans come true they needed to…) Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."
(listen it does not matter where you are tonight, God can bring you back)
- Jeremiah 29:11-14
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you” declares the Lord… - Jeremiah 29:13,14
UNDERSTAND – if you want to make the most out of the next 70 days you need to make the decision that for next 10 weeks, pursuing closeness with God is going to be the most important thing in your life (no matter what)… I – made that decision early this morning…
[read from journal]
[use the space in your notes, if you so desire to write out a prayer of commitment]
OKAY – if you notice in your notes there is a little quiz that I want us to take together and then we will pray…
1. I should forgive those who hurt me
2. I am not supposed to worry or be anxious about anything
3. I am to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry
4. I should never talk in a negative way about any other person
5. I should always be kind, gentle, patient and joyful
The title for our study tonight is… Man’s Greatest Pursuit… Seeking God with all your heart… TONIGHT - we will finish up our foundation work for drawing nearer to God. AND – here is what I hope to accomplish in our time together… Answer 3 questions that may be on your mind since last week…
1. why does God want to draw nearer to me
2. why should I want to draw nearer to Him
3. how does this nearness really come about
NOW – am not going answer these in any order, I’m just going to talk about a bunch of stuff and then we’ll if I answered them…
Prayer…
HEY – do you know what one of my favorite words is? It’s the word new… MAN – I just love that word. I even like the way it sounds. “new” I MEAN – isn’t awesome;
• To start a new year;
• To get a new car,
• To move into to new house,
• To learn new things
• To read new books
• To hear new songs
• To start a new relationship,
• To get a new beginning
AND – do you know what…? I think God likes the word new. IN FACT – new pumps God up. Throughout the bible we see God talking about;
• New names
• New songs
• A new covenant
• New wine & new wineskins
• New heavens & new earth
• Behold I am making all things new
AND – speaking of new… I want us to check out a few passages and see if we can see the new thing that has God all worked up…
18They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.” - Acts 5:18-20
all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. – Romans 6:3,4
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! – 2 Corinthians 5:17
SO - what is the new thing is those passages…? New life! UNDERSTAND - you don’t have to stay the same… You can live a new life.
AND LISTEN – I am not making this stuff up… THIS – is not wishful thinking. YOU SEE - new life was, is and always will be God’s plan for you! A – new life that becomes increasingly more and more like the life Jesus lived when he walked this earth…
REPEAT - “I can live a new life..” (turn to the person next to you… “you can live a new life” - “you can live a life just like Jesus)… AND – you don’t need to take my word on it… You can take God’s…
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters.
– Romans 8:29 (NLT)
22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. – Ephesians 4:22-24
You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. – Col 3:10 (NCV)
LISTEN – if you are a believer… God has but one plan for you. To live a new life, to live a life just like Jesus. UNDERSTAND – this is the life that God longs to breathe into each and everyone of us as we draw nearer to Him… IN - the opening chapter of his book; Just Like Jesus, Max Lucado writes;
What if for one day and one night Jesus were to become you? What if, for 24 hours, Jesus wakes up in your bed, walks in your shoes, lives in your house, assumes your schedule? Your boss becomes his boss, your mother becomes his mother, your pains become his pains? With one exception, nothing about your life changes. Your health doesn’t change. Your circumstances don’t change. Your schedule isn’t altered. Your problems aren’t solved. Only one change occurs.
What if for one day and one night, Jesus lives your life with his heart? Your heart gets a day off, and your life is led by the heart of Christ. His priorities govern your actions. His passions drive your decisions. His love directs your behavior.
What would you be like? Would people notice a change? Your family – would they see something new? Your coworkers – would they sense a difference? What about the less fortunate? Would you treat them the same? And your friends? Would they detect more joy? How about your enemies? Would they receive more mercy from Christ’s heart than from yours?
And you? How would you feel? What alterations would this transplant have on your stress level. Your mood swings? Your temper? Would you sleep better? Would you see sunsets differently? Death Differently? Taxes differently? Any chance you’d need fewer aspirins or sedatives? How about your reaction to traffic delays? (Ouch, that touched a nerve). Would you still dread what your dreading? Better yet, would you still do what you are doing?
Would you still do what you planned to do for the next 24 hours? Pause and think about your schedule. Obligations. Engagements. Outings. Appointments. With Jesus taking over your heart, would anything change?
Keep working on this for a moment. Adjust the lens of your imagination until you have a clear picture of Jesus leading your life, then snap the shutter and frame the image. What you see is what God wants. He wants you to think and act like Jesus.
Let that sink in for a moment…
he chose you to become like his Son…
you are…becoming like the One who made you
you are created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness
NOW – those are some powerful thoughts, would you agree? AND – even though they are not new thoughts… I DON’T – think that most Christians get or really believe them.
• Me really be like Jesus?
• Me really be like the one who made me?
• Me really be like God in true righteousness and holiness?
Sure it sounds nice, but actually happening to me… don’t think so.
QUESTION – why do most people have such a hard time believing that God’s plan for them is for them to ACTUALLY live a life just like Jesus? LET ME – give you 2 reasons…
#1 – This kind of life is not what they have seen in the church…
QUESTION - in your church experience what have you found to be the norm? A - people who are radically becoming a new creation or B people who are staying pretty much the same. I MEAN – has it been your observation that most people in the church ARE radically transforming into something different OR – has your observation been that most believers even after years of being a Christian still have the same;
• Attitudes
• Bitterness
• Temper
• Struggles
• Anger
• Habits
• Hang ups and sin?
IF – this is real Christianity than where is the effect that Jesus spoke of… 25% of Americans claim to have had a Christian experience, which has led some to say, “surely a pound of meat would be effected by a ¼ pound of salt.
IN – a recent interview George Gallup said that only a small minority of those within the church have experienced what he called a deeply transforming faith. He said that a part from this small minority one reason Christianity hasn’t grown as it should is that people don’t see Christians as being any different from the rest of the population.
The most telling thing about the contemporary Christian is that or she simply has no compelling sense that understanding of and conformity with the clear teachings of Christ is of any vital importance to his or her life, and certainly not that it is in any way essential. – Dallas Willard
The second reason most believers don’t believe that being like Jesus will ever be a reality in their lives is because…
#2 – This kind of life is not part of the faulty Gospel
YOU SEE – a lot of people have much too small of a view or vision of what it means to be saved… I MEAN – if you ask most people what it means to be saved that will basically tell you… (By the way how would you answer that question)…
IN – the faulty or incomplete gospel being saved basically means 2 things… #1 - your sins are forgiven… #2 - when you die you get to go to heaven… That is it, it is finished, end of story… AND – actually becoming like Jesus Christ is neither required or expected…
AND – guys this is nothing more than bar code Christianity… YOU KNOW – how a bar code works… Scanner reads bar code – donuts $2.99… PUT – that same bar code on a DVD player… and what does the scanner read? Bar code Christianity says that it does not matter what is in the package (how you live) as long you are saved…
QUESTION – is that what Jesus has really called you and I too… To a self-centered and self focused gospel that is all about us? Our sins are forgiven… We get to go to heaven… I don’t think so…
NOW – don’t misunderstand me, I am so grateful that God in Christ has forgiven my sins and that He is preparing a home for me in heaven… BUT LISTEN – God’s plans for you and for me, are so much bigger than that… YOU SEE – God invites us to be a part of HIS Story… AND – let me quickly give you the cliff notes of HIS Story…
In Chapter One – God creates man in His own image to rule and multiply and spread that image all over the earth…
In Chapter Two – Because man is in the image of God he has the power to choose. AND MAN – chooses to sin, disobey and rebel against God… AND – this sin taints the image of God in man. AND – man is forced to leave the garden of God’s presence…
In Chapter Three – God prepares the world and His people for image restoration…
UNDERSTAND – the real story of human history (every bit of it)… IS – the story of God providing a way for His people to once again have ‘garden’ intimacy with Him. AND – God chose one nation to be the means to bring that about… NOW – if you read the OT you will see that these people (like us) messed up a lot…
BUT LISTEN – even in the midst of their exile, in the midst of the burning city and destroyed temple, in the midst of their sin and rebellion… God keeps telling again and again through His prophets; that a new day was dawning; that a new king would soon reign; that a time of forgiveness, a time of rescue – and a time of restoration was coming.
In Chapter Four - The King arrives, the Word become flesh… YES – 2,000 years ago, God the Son visits this planet; lives a sinless life, dies a cruel death and is raised from the dead to forgive us from our sins and give us new life… Establishing His Kingdom….Making it possible for EVERY man and women to live the image bearing lives they were created to live… AND FINALLY…
In Chapter Five - The Revolution begins… UNDERSTAND – before Jesus left he breathed on His people filling them with His spirit… Enabling them to become a new creation… Telling them as Mike said last Sunday…
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
– Matthew 5:14-16
LISTEN – God’s plan is for you and me, is to live lives that display His glory… IS – to live lives that show the world just how awesome and amazing our God is… IS – to have people look at our lives the way people look at a physically fit person and say I didn’t know that a life could really look like that… Is that kind of life possible for even me…
LAST WEEK – when we look at the heavens we thought wow our God is amazing!!! David was right the heavens do declare, display and proclaim His glory… WELL - God’s plan is to put you and me on display… just like that…
1. why does God desire to draw near to us (not only to save us BUT - to invite us into HIS Story of redeeming human kind)
2. why should I want to draw near to God (because the life he offers is the most amazing, most freeing, most fulfilling, most important life there is to be lived… It is the life you have always wanted and dreamed about…
WHO HERE – wants to live this new life? WHO HERE – wants to join with God in HIS Story. WHO HERE – wants to live a life that brings;
• hope to hopeless
• freedom to those in bondage
• community to those who feel alone
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BUT HOW - does this nearness really happen… How does this life like Christ actually become reality…? I MEAN – to be the light of the world… to be like Jesus is some pretty big shoes to fill…
UNDERSTAND – this life will be a reality in your life and mine only through one thing…. through a divine partnership…
God’s Part
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
– Ezekiel 36:26,27
"This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ’Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. – Zechariah 4:6
"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
- John 7:37-39
And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.
– 2 Cor 3:18,19 (NLT)
QUESTION – who is it that does the work to bring about this new life of transformation? God… God the Spirit. AND – the picture that Jesus uses for that power, for that life in the Spirit, the flow of streams of living water.
NOW - the words river or stream are used over 150 times in the Bible. AND – they are almost always seen as a picture of grace. YOU SEE - Israel was basically a desert. It didn’t have rivers… All it had were gullies that ran through the sand. After a rainstorm, they would be filled with water, but usually they were dry. That’s why a river to Israel stood for is grace. It was a gift. It was life and the desert was death…
AND – do you know what is cool because God’s grace is everywhere in the bible, so are rivers… I MEAN – turn to Genesis chapter 2 and what do you find a beautiful garden and river runs through it (Genesis 2:10) From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden
The Psalmist talks about rivers, and I love what He says in Psalm 46:4; “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” QUESTION – why would a river make the city of God glad because Jerusalem had no river… (They had to try and bring water by an aqueduct). “ AND UNDERSTAND – the river the Psalmist is talking about is the river of God’s presence…“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.”
AND WHEN - a river flows unobstructed, all kinds of good things will happen. Trees will be nourished. Fish will have a home. Crops will grow and people will have water to drink. AND - I love the pictures that Isaiah paints of God’s living water… Rivers are all over Isaiah but I’ll just read 1…
"The poor and homeless are desperate for water, their tongues parched and no water to be found. But I’m there to be found, I’m there for them, and I, God of Israel, will not leave them thirsty. I’ll open up rivers for them on the barren hills, spout fountains in the valleys. I’ll turn the baked-clay badlands into a cool pond, the waterless waste into splashing creeks. – Is 41:17,18 (Msg)
When a river flows, that’s life. If a river gets dammed up, if it gets blocked, obstructed, polluted, cut off, that’s death. AND – guess what we find in the very last chapter of the Bible. A river…
1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Could the nations use any healing right now?
From the opening words of Genesis to the closing chapter of Revelation, we see God and we see his people and a river of grace runs through it.
QUESTION - what if? What if the Spirit of God is like a river and is flowing all the time? All the time. AND - what if your job as a believer in Jesus is not to try harder or run faster or get up earlier or pretend like everything is OK? What if God really is at work in every moment, in every place and your job is just to jump in the river? What if you job is to simply figure out from one moment to the next:
• How do I stay in the flow?
• How do I learn to flow with the Spirit?”
HEY CHURCH – “surf’s up…” AND LISTEN – your job is not to create the streams of living water… NO - your job is to learn how to ride them… If you’ve ever watched somebody surf whose really good, it looks pretty easy. It’s not. It takes practice. It takes balance. You’re not passive when you’re surfing, not by a long shot. But you don’t have to make the wave.
AND - when you fall off, when you misread it, when you wipe out, “The good news is that when you miss one wave, when you fall off, when you wipe out, there’s another one coming right behind it. They just keep coming. The waves just keep coming. God just keeps sending them. He’s like a wave machine and the word for that is ‘grace.’ When you mess one up there’s another one coming right behind it and then another one right after that, and you just get back on the board.”
AGAIN – drawing close to God, living the life we’ve always wanted, living a life that shines and brings glory to God… IS – a partnership… AND – God the Son has finished his work, HE - has done his part… living water is available for us to ride to new life …
OUR PART – is to become a great surfer… AND - spiritual disciplines are basically our efforts to learn how surf better the waves of God’s grace…
QUESTION – what are my chances of being successful in a surfing tournament in Hawaii if I never did any training? About the same as my chances were of playing the guitar well tonight… not good at all… About the same chances you and I have of; (quiz)
1. forgiving those who hurt me
2. not worrying or be anxious about anything
3. being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry
4. never talking in a negative way about any other person
5. always be kind, gentle, patient and joyful WITHOUT – training
UNDERSTAND – to life the life God called you to is not about trying harder… INSTEAD – it’s about training wisely…
YOU KNOW – it is crazy to think that you and I can the life that Jesus lived without… doing the things that Jesus did…
John Orteberg gives this definition of spiritual disciplines in His book, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, “A spiritual discipline is any activity I can do by direct effort that will help me do what I cannot do by direct effort…” (repeat)
WE - cannot transform our own lives… we can’t. only God can. Remember – He is the waves, the living water, not us – He’s the potter we are the clay, we cannot directly transform ourselves. NEVERTHELESS - there are things, they are ‘activities’ that you & I can do ‘by direct’ effort that will enable us to catch that fresh waves of God…
Richard Foster in his classic book, The Celebration of Discipline, says this about spiritual disciplines;
“The disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us… A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can do is provide the right conditions for the growing of grain. He cultivates the ground, he plants the seed, he waters the plants and then the natural forces of the earth take over and up comes the grain. This is the way it is with the Spiritual Disciplines…The Disciplines are God’s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where he can work within us to transform us. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done…”
I don’t know about you, but I am really ready to PUT myself in a place where something amazing can be done in my life...
