Seeking God

Seeking God

CCCAG, 1-22-23

Scripture: Isaiah 55:6-9

Introduction

I might be dating myself a little here with this opening illustration, but when I was in the army, we had these things called Lister Bags. A lister bag was a 36 gallon green hanging bag from which you could fill your canteens. Being the army, there was a whole procedure behind using them- I’ve never seen that procedure, but I think one of the steps was to add more bleach or chlorine to it then would be found in a swimming pool. It would actually burn the back of your throat on the way down and give you a serious case of gut rot instead of quenching your thirst on a hot day. No amount of Crystal light packets could help…it was just such a bad example of something that was supposed to bring refreshment, but instead gave you horrible water.

Lister bags are an example of something that looks good and refreshing, but in the end, proves to be anything but that.

Last week we talked about Isaiah 55:1-3, and how God wants to be the one who quenches every thirst we have in life.

Unfortunately that is not what we see today. Today, many have forsaken him, and tried to drink from other sources. Instead of seeking God, the source of living water, we go to the world for our nourishment.

In essence, the devil sets up lister bags everywhere for us to drink from. He makes them easily accessible, quick to use, and has created a society where no one will judge you if you use one.

For some- it might be alcohol or other drugs- things meant to numb pain, elevate mood, or simply help you forget the crushing anxiety this life has placed upon you.

For others, your lister bag might be sex, or sexual sin, inappropriate relationships, and hidden internet identities. Your biggest fear in life is thinking someone might hack your phone and learn your secrets.

For others, it might be your work

For others, it might be other people’s opinions

For others, it might be smartphone apps not related to intimacy.

The point is, the devil has a lister bag for you.

This morning, I’m not doing a long introduction here- I want to dive right into the scripture, and that is found in

Isa 55:6-9

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

7 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.

8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.

9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

NIV

Prayer

Premise-

Before we get any further into the message this morning, I want to address something.

First, This is going to be a tough message….so strap in.

Second- I received some feedback within the last year regarding sermons- there are some that think that I am sitting in my office, writing sermons with certain people in mind.

In other words, there are some that have accused me of using this time of the service to attack people because somehow I know their individual sin, and spend this time to harp on it.

I want to quickly address this, because it matters for today’s message-

1. If I did know of an individual’s sin, I would never use this time to address it. I would speak to you directly as the Spirit leads me. Often times, I feel restrained from speaking to a person about it, but simply make it a matter of prayer and let Jesus work that out.

2. The sermons I bring, more often than not I’m preaching to myself as well as you. As the words are leaving my mouth at times I feel my inner man saying, “John, you are doing the same thing!”

John Calvin once said, “If a preacher isn’t first preaching to himself the sermon he is bringing, it’s better for him to trip on the way up to the pulpit and break his neck than to utter one word of that sermon.”

I try to keep those words in mind when I prepare and deliver sermons. In fact, sometimes while I’m up here, my eyes will be skimming ahead to see where I am going, and then see something that I know will offend someone who is here, so I’ll skip over that and try to figure out how to make the rest of the message work without it.

Finally, Remember- I am but a poor vessel that God’s grace uses to bring His truths to your attention. If those truths sting sometimes- that is a good thing. It means the Holy Spirit is prodding you about it. It also indicates that your heart is still tender enough to feel that prod and you need to let His scalpel cut out that thing he wants to lovingly remove so it doesn’t harm you.