Pursuing God- #1
Pursuing God- Prime the Pump!
Two weeks ago when I last spoke, we talked about our being ‘in-dependence’ upon God. We were created to be hopelessly, completely, unashamedly dependent on God!
The key passage was Jeremiah 29:11-13:
11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
This week, we’ll get more in depth on the idea of Pursuing God.
I won’t ask for a show of hands, but I hope you had a chance to get a hold of A.W Tozer’s book “Pursuing God”- simply Google A.W. Tozer, Pursuit of God PDF and numerous sites will result. It’s seriously worth your time to get this!
http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Tozer_Pursuit_of_God.pdf
I put the link at the end of the notes.
One of the shortcomings of the modern Christian church is that we have tended to focus on the long range benefits of salvation and neglected the near term benefits of relationship with God.
We coach people into ‘accepting Jesus’, but once ‘saved’, we aren’t good about the business of ‘spiritual formation’ or discipleship.
It’s possible to be active in the church but have an ineffective, non-functioning or dysfunctional relationship with God.
It is common to ‘punch your ticket’ to heaven’s destination, but forget to get on the bus! The journey of faith is an active pursuit!
The song we’ve been singing, “You Made a Way for Me” reveals that longing.
The longing of our hearts is to arrive at the destination, as well as our longing for the one that ‘made a way’. The joy of this life is in finding that ‘way’!
Here at Hope Living Church, we value most of all a close, deep, personal relationship with God!
This foundation is the base for which all of life is built upon!
The ‘Holy Place’ is not an external destination! The ‘Holy of Holies’ is most importantly an internal place! There is place of communion with God that we can freely enter!
The danger of this life is losing that way, failing to daily enter that ‘Holy Place’.
It can even happen to ‘Church people’!
Sadly, I recently learned of some friends, a Christian couple up north, that are divorcing…
They were very active members in their church, leaders in children’s church, food ministry, and for years, they actually coordinated the local church’s annual ‘Marriage Retreat’ called Weekend to Remember. I don’t know what caused their relationship to crumble, but a wise pastor (who is in this room) taught Robyn and me in our pre-marital counseling that the closer you get to God, the closer you get to each other.
When a marriage relationship fails (or any relationship for that matter), I’d first suspect that something was broken in the area of closeness to God.
When people pursue God first, (the red arrows) even above others or self, God’s promises stand firm and will guide you through even the most troubled waters!
Notice the distance between the husband and wife at the base. Now notice the distance between the blue arrows as both progress towards God.
Pursuing God together will have the added benefit of a closer relationship to your spouse!
Let’s go back to Jeremiah 29 to pick this idea up of ‘Pursuing God’. In verse 13:
13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jesus himself confirmed this truth when He said this (Luke 11:9-13 NLT):
9 So listen: Keep on asking, and you will receive. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened for you. 10 All who keep asking will receive, all who keep seeking will find, and doors will open to those who keep knocking…
The NLT rightly emphasizes the phrase ‘keep on…”
I think this is where we fail. We ask but without the sense of passion, urgency, or even expectation!
MAIN IDEA ALERT!!!
What can we do in our daily lives to keep on ‘Seeking’ him?
Jump start ideas/ suggestions
Set a daily appointment- time and place!
Be still!
Open the Word!
‘Prime the pump’!
Most pumps that pump water have an inlet side and an outlet side. The inlet side receives a flow of water from a source and the pumping mechanism pushes the water out the outlet side. Most of the time, the inlet and outlet sides are connected to hoses. Priming a pump refers to the process of introducing water into the pump to get it started in its action to move the water from the inlet through to the outlet.
You really can’t beat heart felt worship songs to get your heart pump primed! Suggestion- grab the Hope CD and start your day there!
Practice makes perfect! Keep on knocking!!!
(Time permitting- Question to the group)
Ideas/tips and tricks for what people are doing to ‘Prime the Pump’?
We need the Holy Spirit!
13 Look, all of you are flawed in so many ways, yet in spite of all your faults, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to all who ask!
Luke 11:13, The Voice
If God is ready to give, we must be ready to receive! Get filled up! Stay filled up! Just ask! Seek! Knock!
When is the best time to seek God? This is kind of a trick question!
“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near; Isaiah 55:6
We know that God is omnipresent- and may always be ‘found’! The secret is that we have to make the first move!
8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. James 4:8
You take a step towards him, he reciprocates and steps towards you!
Now is a really good time! Check this out:
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. Hos 10:12
This is so good! I bet Jesus had this in mind when he told the parable of the sower! Let's look at this closer:
Sow righteousness- reap steadfast love! Righteousness is simply being in ‘right relationship’ with God. The word has kind of a distasteful ring to it these days because it is most often prefixed with the word ‘self’. All we need to do for basic righteousness is to recognize that we are not able to attain it apart from Jesus- He ‘Made a Way! Waling in the ‘righteousness’ of Jesus will bear the fruit of LOVE!
Break up your fallow ground- brokenness ! Life has an abundance of opportunities to allow us to be broken! Our choice- we can yield to God’s ways, or resist and stiffen up.
It’s time to seek!
Raining righteousness! Wow! Great image!
Now let's play that back in the New Living Translation:
Hosea 10:12 (NLT)
12 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’
Sometimes we need a good shower! Amen?
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Heb 11:6
If we seek God we will find him! That is one promise that I always tell ‘pre-Christians’.
Seek God, seek truth honestly and with all your heart. If you do that, you will find God!
I can tell you for a fact that finding God is the greatest reward!
When we have that figured out, our faith increases.
When our faith increases, we draw nearer to him and experience all that He has for us!
I’d like to leave you with a thought from Oliver Wendell Holmes:
“The great thing in this world is not so much where we are but in what direction we are moving.”
Are you moving towards God? Let’s Pursue God together!
Let’s encourage each other towards God’s direction in this pursuit!
Just as explorers like Columbus found a way to the New World and opened a pathway for others, lets open these pathways to God and encourage others in the journey!
Again, If you haven’t done so, find a copy of A.W. Tozer’s important book called ‘The Pursuit of God’.
I promise it will activate your faith and change the course of your life in the most positively incredible way!
Benediction
(A prayer of Blessing- Colossians 2)
6–7 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
Col 2:6-7 The Message
