Serious About Knowing God? Series

Seriously Knowing God

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2

Galatians 4:9

March 10, 2024

A couple of years ago I received a message on our answering machine which stated I needed to respond immediately to this message because there was a warrant for my arrest. And I needed to resolve it right then or by the end of the day, I’d be arrested.

You know what my first thought was?

“I don’t think I’ve done anything worthy of jail; or did I?”

For a moment, it scared me, and then I did what everyone does, I checked Google for scams and learned this was a scam. I received a bunch more calls, never responded and the good news is . . . . I’m still here!

People using counterfeit means to steal our money and identity. It’s crazy. Whether it’s via text messages, the internet, email - - - there’s a lot of counterfeit, fake people out there. Scammers using our personal information to try to steal money from us.

And even in the days of Jesus, we discovered there were a lot of false Jesus’ out there too. Jesus warned us to beware of wolves in sheeps clothing.

And if we’re not serious about who Jesus is, if we don’t know our Shepherd, then it’s easy to get duped and by into what’s not right according to God.

We can learn about God by reading theology, but theology is not a replacement for knowing God. I can have the greatest knowledge and intellect about God, satan has that, but if I don’t know Him, then I really can’t have a relationship with Him.

As we look continue to look at what it means to be serious about God, one of the most important aspects is to simply KNOW God. It seems like it should be so simple, yet there are times when it doesn’t seem that way.

It’s knowing who God is and who God is calling me to be. It’s knowing what He wants from me. It’s knowing how I can relate to God and experience His presence, His grace, His power, His mercy, His strength, His encouragement and so much more. I want that! I so desperately crave it!

Because if we don’t know God, if we don’t even know what God expects of us, then how do we know what’s right and what’s wrong? How do we know what God’s calling us to do? And how to best serve Him?

Hopefully, you get some of that on Sunday morning, but Sunday morning is only 1 out of 168 hours of the week, which is only .6% of a week. What are you doing the other 99.4% of the week to know God?

How much time is spent on social media vs. Jesus?

How much time is on ESPN vs. Jesus?

How many hours are you playing games vs. Jesus?

How much time on pinterest vs. Jesus?

Not that any of those are bad! It becomes a matter of what our heart treasures. There’s nothing wrong with playing a few games or doing mindless stuff. Seriously, we need a break, but where does God fit into your day?

Every moment of everyday should be focused on honoring and glorifying God. That should be built into the very fabric of who we are. Because everything we do, is done for the Lord.

Think about how well we know our loved ones . . . We know them because we talk to them, we engage them, we hang out together, we eat together and we play together and we go on vacations together.

How much time are you spending with God? So that you would really know Him. That’s about as simple and straight forward as I can ask it.

We can see how easily the world distorts the truth. The counterfeiters were present in Paul’s day. Look at what he said to the church in Galatia - - - -

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel --

7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. - Galatians 1:6-7

Then, in chapter 4, Paul adds - - - -

9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,

how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

In 1 John 2, John wrote - - - -

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world. - 1 John 2:15-16