Dare to Pursue
“Pursue Presence”
September 24, 2006
Introduction: No one likes the feeling of being lonely. Sometimes we like being alone and it is a healthy thing to be alone, but no one desires to be lonely. Part of the reason is we were created to be social creatures. We love relationships and we all long for close personal connection with another person.
Me:
I tend to be social by nature. I love being with people and being around people. In fact, of all the people I know, the one I truly love to be around the most is my wife. When Alana and I were dating, I couldn’t wait to see her from one night until the next day. I wanted to be around her all the time. We were in college together at the time and we lived in separate dorms. Guys were not allowed in the girls’ dorms and vice versa. So, if Alana had already gone to her room and I wanted to see her I would have to go to her window outside the dorm and get her attention. Then she would come to the window and we would talk. I spent a lot of nights standing outside that dorm.
I still have a serious need to be near Alana. I have a need to be around my wife on a regular basis. I love being around her. She makes me laugh, she makes me think and she makes me a better person. When I cannot be around her I feel disconnected and out of sorts. The times when I am gone to a conference or am away speaking and Alana cannot be with me, I don’t do well. I don’t eat right, I don’t sleep right and I wander around counting the minutes until we can be together.
One of the great things that help me get through the times of separation from my family is pictures. I have pictures of Alana and the kids all around my office. I keep them close to me and they help me to get my fix of family during the day. I see their faces and it refreshes me and makes me look forward to getting home.
We:
Do you have experiences like that? I am sure that you have people who stir those kinds of feelings in you. How do you deal with them and how do you make it through?
One of the deepest desires of the human soul is to connect with God. We desire his passion as we talked about last week and we seek his presence. We all have a desire to think of the awesome, creator God of eternity as being close and personal to us. In our society we have tried to do things to remind ourselves that God is around us. Some things are really helpful and serve as good reminders of the nature of God. To be honest some things are very hokey and really don’t reflect God.
Illustration: Shane’s Light-up Jesus lamp
Bobble head Jesus
Do these things seem like realistic representations of God to you?
God:
We need to get an adequate picture of what it means to be in the presence of God. We need to understand that God is bigger and greater than we can imagine and he desires for us to recognize his presence everyday of our lives.
We want to look at a verse that is a vision of heaven the prophet Isaiah was given. In it he relates that angels are circling the throne of God and crying the same thing over and over:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
Isaiah 6:3 (NIV)
This passage is telling us that all of the earth is filled with the glory of God. Literally all of creation is reflecting the glory of the nature of God.
The term for glory is the Hebrew word kavod.
Kavod literally means weight or significance.
It is the idea that all of creation is dripping with the significance of the majesty of God.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”
Psalm 24:1 (NIV)
All of creation is designed to reflect wonder and awe and splendor of God.
The question for us becomes, why don’t we live in that everyday? Why are we not overwhelmed with the power and wonder of god all the time in our lives?
There are several factors that keep us from seeing the splendor of God.
1) We get caught in the pace of life.
2) We get trapped in familiarity.
3) We get lazy in our spiritual disciplines.
All kinds of things keep us from experiencing the wonder of God. But one key factor tends to destroy all of our good intentions for finding the presence of God.
David, the great king, asked a very significant question and gave us a very daunting answer.
“Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart.” Psalm 15:1-2 (NIV)
Who can live up to that? Who is blameless in everything and who always does what is right? No wonder we can’t experience the presence of God, we can’t meet his requirements.
Our failures of heart separate us from God.
It’s what we call sin.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
1 John 1:8 (NIV)
Right there it says that if we say we have no sin we are lying and the verse we read earlier from David said that the ones who can enter the House of god are those who don’t lie.
We’re Doomed!!
But maybe there is hope. Maybe there is something that can help us to overcome the struggles of sin in our lives to be aware of the presence of God more in our world that is dripping with him.
“The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.”
Romans 4:25 (The Message)
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
Jesus Christ takes our sin and allows us to experience the uprightness of God.
When we allow our sin to be covered by Jesus and we allow him to overcome the destruction of our sin through faith, we are able to stand honestly and openly before God. We are able to experience his presence.
Remember the question of David:
“Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart.” Psalm 15:1-2 (NIV)
The work of Jesus fulfills the requirements of God.
“Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need--one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” Hebrews 7:23-27 (NIV)
You:
So how do we daily live our lives so that we can experience this kind of presence of God: take out the trash.
What we need to understand is that sin is like trash in our lives. It is dirty and filthy and smells awful. You know what I mean; sin and guilt and shame bind up our lives so that we feel we can never be in the presence of God.
If sin is like trash, God wants us to get rid of it through Jesus Christ.
We take out the trash in our lives through confession.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:7-9 (NIV)
As followers of God, we need to learn to regularly take out the trash that builds up in our soul. We need to learn that God desires us to be honest with him and allow his love and mercy to fill our lives so that we may experience his presence.
We must learn to keep short accounts with God.
Here is how this works. This week set aside time to get honest with God. Get a pen and a piece of paper and sit and write every sin you have committed on that piece of paper. Allow your mind to bring up all the things you have done where you have failed God. Write every hurtful thing down.
Now, over the top of that list of sin, write out the words to 1 John 1:9:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (NIV)
What you will discover is that when you are free from all the junk in your soul, you are free to see God where he really is; dripping his grace, love, majesty, power and sovereignty all over the earth.
We:
Show the Igniter Video “Everywhere.”
Closing: This week, I pray that you take the steps necessary to take out the trash. And I pray that you experience the presence of God everywhere.
