June 30, 2013 Week three
“removing the veil” Isaiah 55:6-9 mmm
Seek(T) the Lord while he may be found;(U) call(V) on
him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake(W) their ways and the
unrighteous their thoughts.(X) Let them turn(Y) to the Lord, and he will have mercy(Z) on them, and to our
God, for he will freely pardon.(AA) 8 “For my
thoughts(AB) are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”(AC) declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are
higher than the earth,(AD)so are my ways
higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.(AE)
Continuing
in the series – the pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer
The God shaped hole
Christian writers for years have talked about
the god shaped hole inside of each person
This is echoed by St. Augustine who said
“You have formed us for yourself, and our
hearts are restless till they find rest in you.”
- Augustine
This
is still being said today..... Chapter One / Rick Warren’s The Purpose
Driven Life.....”
you were
born by His purpose and for His purpose...,, ….focusing on ourselves will never
reveal our life’s purpose.....you were made by God and for God-until you
understand that, life will never make sense.”
REPEAT
The
sermon could end right here
Our Chief end is to love God
Chief end is to love. Period
We know this is good. We know it is right.
When we love,
We sense God’s love in our hearts. We
sense that we were created to love him
Revelation
4:11 (NIV)
“You are worthy, our Lord and
God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you
created all things, and by your will they were
created and have their being.”
We sing the song………worthy is the lamb
One of my favorites
It is like you can feel your heart rushing up
to heaven
This is worship
That’s how
its supposed to work But sin entered in
“ [God] meant us to see him and live with
him…” but we have revolted and “broken with God.”
Life is lived in separation from God
Seek(T) the Lord while he may be found;(U) call(V) on
him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked
forsake(W) their ways and the unrighteous
their thoughts.(X) Let them turn(Y) to the Lord, and he will have mercy(Z) on them, and to our God, for
he will freely pardon.(AA)
Ahh,
the joy of pardon, the joy of forgiveness
There's a Spanish story of a
father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set
off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last
desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The
ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on
Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos
showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.
DAVE
YOU ARE FORGIVEN
Redemption-
remedy
God has worked. there is a remedy
Through Christ
Our Sins are disposed of satisfactorily
We are Fully reconciled
The Way is opened for us to return again into conscious communion w God
We are able to Live again in his
Presence
Essentials of faith. Pretty good short list
Tabernacle
illustration
“This interior journey of the soul from a
life of self to the enjoyed presence of God” is wonderfully/beautifully
illustrated in the OT tabernacle......and the veil.
This journey from sin to fellowship with God
is well illustrated by the Old
Testament tabernacle
Testament tabernacle
Veil separated the holy of holies. The place where God’s presence dwelt.
The priest could only go in once a year
They kept a rope tied to his leg in case it
didn’t Go well
When Jesus died, the veil is torn
37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.(AD) 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two
from top to bottom.(AE) 39 And when the centurion,(AF) who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,[c] he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”(AG)
Mk 15:38
Gods Presence is now open to all
God’s Presence is not a theory but an
actuality to be experienced
It is more than a doctrine to be held, it is
a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day
You can know this presence
but .....We are satisfied to rest in
doctrines and lists of beliefs,
in our intellectual Christianity and,
we often ignore the opportunity for a
personal relationship with God to our detriment
and the years pass...and we grow old and
tired and feel guilty as if something were amiss…..
and it is
No fire in
the life of a christian
Simple doctrine or belief in christ does not
make you sweeter
Churchliness has replaced the deep love,
appreciation and a savoring of God
Fire
starter story
|
There was a man who invented the art of making fire. He took
his tools and went to a tribe in the north, where it was very cold, bitterly
cold. He taught the people there to make fire. The people were very
interested. He showed them the uses to which they could put fire—they could
cook, could keep themselves warm, etc. They were so grateful that they had learned the art of making fire. But before they could express their gratitude to the man, he disappeared. He wasn’t concerned with getting their recognition or gratitude; he was concerned about their well-being. He went to another tribe, where he again began to show them the value of his invention. People were interested there, too, a bit too interested for the peace of mind of their priests, who began to notice that this man was drawing crowds and they were losing their popularity. So they decided to do away with him. They poisoned him, crucified him, put it any way you like. But they were afraid now that the people might turn against them, so they were very wise, even wily. Do you know what they did? They had a portrait of the man made and mounted it on the main altar of the temple. The instruments for making fire were placed in front of the portrait, and the people were taught to revere the portrait and to pay reverence to the instruments of fire, which they dutifully did for centuries. The veneration and the worship went on, but there was no fire. |
Leaving
a life that is centered in ourselves only happens when we love another
Selfishness
is only challenged by a love for another person
I
should be nice to cathy brinkman…….its the right thing to do
But
when I fall in love with her, katie bar the door what I will do for her.
Jon
cundiff
Charles
the desert man
The veil in our hearts
The
title of chapter three is removing the veil
Just
as there was a veil in the tabernacle, tozer says there is a veil in our hearts
Our
selfish paragidm
“self-righteousness, self-pity,
self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-
admiration, self-love and a host of others like them.”
Jesus
invites us to die to self
-WE
must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us
Dying
to self is painful
-WE
must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering
To
rip thru the the part of life that is about me
Not
my will but thine be done
That
is when the veil is removed and we are resurrected to a joyfilled life with God
Core of Christianity is the presence of God, not church
tradition or doctrine
Abraham
has no church, no pastor. Moses has no church.
How
do you sense His presence
Be
determined to eradicate self
It
is difficult, it is sneaky.
Everyone
needs someone to help them do this……..
A counselor, a friend, someone to
challenge what you think you are
To
see in yourself what you don’t see
Then
we can Open our eyes
When
we stop looking at all the wrong things
Bad news, how someone did me wrong
When
we stop looking at all the wrong things
Our
eyes are open and we can see the good
Its
an awakening
Awake…the
awakening chorus
Suddenly
I am alive to something that I had never known or
Alive
to something that I had forgotten about
To
swim in, to dive in, to bask, to linger with God
To
see him for what he is
Not
a rulemaker or a mad grandpa
But
to see him as the indescribable, uncontainable, eternal, all loving, filled
with mercy
My
favorite characteristic of God?
He
is reaching out for you
Dave,
God is reaching out for you
Prayer
Lord,
how excellent are your ways, and how sinful are the ways of man. Help us to die to self, so we may be reborn in you and draw near in full assurance of our faith.
Help us to seek you so that we can behold your glory every day.
In Jesus name
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