Pursuit of God Part 5 - The Universal Presence Psalms 139:7-10 07/14/2013

Sermon pursuit of god chpt 5-- the universal presence  Ps 139:7-10

Where can I go from your Spirit?    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,    your right hand will hold me fast.

The series.  Chapter 5

What are we talking about

The universal presence

I loved this book before we got here, but when I came upon this chapter I was ecstatic. 

This is One of my favorite topics.  Why?

How I was raised.  Duty vs celebration

Church Camp - Celebrate life

Took years to retrain my brain

There is a challenge with this kind of thinking

Although it is taught over and over again in scripture

for some reason it has not sunk into the the average Christians heart so as to become a part of his believing self.

The simple notion that God right here.  Revealed in everything around us.

It is difficult for people for several reasons

1.   My issue.  What I was taught [I’m not alone in this]

2.   Rational American xity - left brain rational or right brain creative Christianity

East vs west.

3.   Teachers shy away from this…..Maybe because of fear of being charged with pantheism...that God is the sum (equates to) all created things. Tozer discounts this.....

Not that God is all things, or all things are God, but that God is revealed in these things

He makes him self known

The results of not being aware of this are tragic

We live joyless,  shallow lives, filled with hollow religious philosophies

Difference between nominal and amazing life 58

Scriptural evidence

Adam sinned and tried to do the impossible, hide from God....

Genesis 3⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

Psalm 139:7  There is no way to escape You, no place to hide.

Where can I go from your Spirit?    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there

Psalm 19 ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;  the skies proclaim the work of his hands.² Day after day they pour forth speech;    night after night they reveal knowledge. ³ They have no speech, they use no words;   no sound is heard from them.⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth,    their words to the ends of the world.

Solomon’s prayer of dedication over the new temple......1 Kings 8:27

²⁷ “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

Romans 1:20²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Man healed in Lystra Acts 14- they want to declare them Gods

14when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ¹⁵ “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. ¹⁶ In the past, he let all nations go their own way. ¹⁷ Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”

Acts 17:27-28  god is near Paul at areopogas                                   picture

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[c]

God is with us.  By our side.  Revealing himself

One of the glories of coming to understand this is

We are free from doctrinal arguments

God will not try to catch us on a technicality if we don’t have baptism or communion or predestination just right.

Churches are wasting their time arguing over such things

When we should be looking and seeing the glory grandeur and joy of God

Okay Jeff, I suspect that in your job you are often reminded that you are accountable for holding to Methodist beliefs, and "doing what Methodists do."

From a layperson's perspective, although I'm a member at WCC, I rarely if never spend any time thinking about or defending the fact the I'm a Methodist.

I continually identify with being a Christian in a world where other believers live out their faith in Jesus Christ in various Christian denominations. If someone takes the Jesus factor out and who He is and wants to be in our lives, that's where I would begin to find issues.

I don't even feel like a Methodist, if there's supposed to be something unique about being one. In fact, I cannot find the word Methodist, Presbyterian, Assembly of God, Baptist, or whatever, in the Bible.

Denominations argue, Christians fight over silly things, when God is with us by our side, wanting to know and be known..

Conclusion

Gen 28:16 surely the lord is in theis place and I knew it not – Jacobs ladder

¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep,^(AQ) he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

This is the problem. I was not aware of it.  We just are not aware of where God is at or what God is doing.

The fish looks for water

The raft in the ocean

Some people are on a raft off the coast of Brazil. They were perishing from thirst--for as you know, ocean water is undrinkable. What they did not know, however, was that the water they were floating on was fresh water. A nearby river was coming out into the sea with such force that it went out for a couple of miles, so they had fresh water right there where they were. But they had no idea.

"In the same way," "we're surrounded with joy, with happiness, with love. Most people," he concludes, "have no idea."

We are blind because:

1.   We are not receptive

The old “rabbit ears” on a t.v., the broadcast is being sent out, but we aren’t tuned-in

Saints thru history have been revered for their SPIRITUAL RECEPTIVITY! .....

Something  in them was open to heaven, which urged them Godward....they had spiritual awareness AND that they went on to cultivate it until it became the biggest thing in their lives.

they differed from the average person in that when they felt the inward longing they did something about it.   

We are blind because:

2.   We are passive

God’s power and work; His pursuit of us, is not an excuse to do nothing to cultivate our receptivity.  To return to the broadcast metaphor, we do not wait for the satellites to adjust the broadcast to our position.

Awareness - Receptivity..... it may be increased by exercise or destroyed by neglect BUT it is a gift of God, indeed, but one which must be recognized and cultivated as any other gift is we are to realize the purpose for which it was given.

Pray for increasing awareness

We are blind because:

3.   We are impatient

Remember this is written in 1948… How much more so in 2013?!?

“A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals.”

We are not willing to take the time or do the work to learn to see him

This is the Difference between nominal and amazing life 58

In the 2002 movie signs - See.  SEE.  Look.  See it. –

Mel Gibson is a minister who quits

His wife is killed .  hit by a car and pinned to a tree.

He cant believe that God is good

There is a scene late in the movie where he flashed back to Tell the kids this, tell your brother that.

I will.

Colleen: And tell Graham...

Graham Hess: I'm here.

Colleen: Tell Graham... see. Tell him to see.

See?  See what.?  That God is good.  That life is good.  That he is right here

Last scene of the movie, he is putting his clergy collar back on.

-The universal Presence is a fact!

-The whole universe is alive with His life.

-Always He is trying to get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate with us.

- we just have to look and see

Chapter 5 Prayer

Oh Father, We know that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see; yet we are preoccupied with what we see all around us.  Forgive us for being blind to your presence.  Open our eyes that we may see you are always with us and that nothing we do will separate us from you.

For Christ's sake, Amen

Thanksgiving Acts 20:22-27, 32-35 11/25/2012

Thanksgiving 4 November 25^th, 2012  acts 20:22-27, 32-35 -

One of the main themes of Christmas is giving.  God gave so we give.

One of the main themes, maybe the only theme of Thanksgiving is being grateful for what we have received.

Giving and receiving.  They go together.  They are twin sisters of the generous life.

Yes sometimes we only want to experience one

Lets get after the scripture.  Paul is writing to the Ephesian church.  Saying goodbye…

²² “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³ I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵ “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. ²⁶ Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. ²⁷ For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. ^………..

³² “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. ³⁵ In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Its is better to give than to receive

These are the words of Jesus….. where?

John 21:25

²⁵ Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

I was reading an author who took exception to this phrase.  It is better to give than to receive.

Sort of.

Lets consider for a moment that there are two kinds of people.

Now this is a generalization, there are many shades in between, but lets consider these extremes.

1.     The person who receives everything and does not give

Entitled, unappreciative, ungenerous, selfish, demanding, expecting everything investing nothing.  A taker.

Some of the people that are like this are collectors.  I want more.  The one with the most toys at the end wins.

2.    The person who gives all the time, but will not allow you to do anything for them.

Glad to help you, glad to give you a gift, but not interested in you doing anything for them.  Does not want to be a burden.  Does not want to have to depend on others.  Wants to be the helper, not the helpee.

Which are we more like?  The first?  The second.

There are dangers to both ways of living

Its better to give than to receive

Its also easier to give than to receive

The author takes exception with this life style.  He insisits that we cannot truly give until we know how to receive.  He insists that the words of Jesus/paul here are only true after we have learned how to receive.

When we are willing to graciously receive, our pride is set aside and we can see the value in others, not just in ourselves.  When we are willing to graciously receive, we allow the other person to exercise their opportunities to be generous.

Sometimes people don’t want me to help them.  I tell them, you are going to rob me of a chance to do what God calls us to do.  I want to be a part of this thing.

           

Difference in the types of  giving

One is graceless and gives out of duty or guilt

The other is based in grace and both joyfully receives and gives

The person who joyfully receives

Has a different way of giving.  A different spirit.

There is something that happens when we receive.

We become grateful.  We become full.

My father sent me to college.  On the day that I realized what a blessing this was, he was permanently lodged in my heart.

And, I wanted to do everything I could to share this gift with my children.

The German work ethic has made many of us into people that can never rest.  Never stop.  Always work and help others, but never ask for or receive help. 

We understand how this relates with people, but what does it do with God?

The chirstian life is more than a list of do’s and don’ts.

Doing good things for the wrong reason  will exhaust you rather than energize you.

You will feel like a martyr and then wonder why others around you seem to be so joyful in their calling.

This is important to understand because until we grasp the difference, we will never experience the joy of life  in Christ.

The Christian life is not lived of duty.  It is a joyful response to love.

Lets look at the cross

What if you related to god as you do to other humans….. no, no problem God, I have this.

We would receive nothing from him.

It is when we see our need and open our hearts to receive his love that we become full. 

And the giving starts.

1 Jn 4:19   “We love him because he first loved us”

God always plays the principle role in the drama of rescue.

So we have received from him.  

Then, we can live and love and give.

That’s how it works.

Why would we want to live the rest of our lives with different rules?

It works one way with God, but another way with you?

I know a lot of people who have trouble accepting God’s forgiveness

Maybe one of the reasons that we sometimes have trouble accepting our own salvation is because we are trying to cause God to live by our human rule.  I am  a giver, not a receiver.

Peter pulled this with Jesus…Jesus wants to wash peters feet.  No.  never.  If you don’t receive from me, you have no part of me. John 13

But when you receive the love, then something changes inside of you. You are full and you want to give it away.

Lets just think for a moment of what God has done for us in Jesus

Describe the experience of receiving God’s grace

when our hearts have received from God- there is a lightning explosion of giving grace

When we realize what God has done for us in Christ, we want to care, we want to help.  We want to love

Rivers of living water begin to pour from the person who has been touched by God.

Transition/pause

We like to ask why.  Why did my parents die.  Why is my kid in trouble.  Why this why that.

Do we ever look at what we have received?  Why can I see?  Why does my wife love me?  Why are my kids healthy?  When we see what we have received, our hearts become full.

Everyone wants to help the shelters during the holidays.  Why?  It’s the thing to do.  Show some appreciation.  But if this stops the rest of the year, what does that say about what we were doing?  Just did some things to make ourselves feel better?  When we remember how blest we are, we want to help everybody, every day.  it becomes a lifestyle

Waking up to a drudgery or waking up to the gift of life?

God loves a cheerful giver.  God loves a cheerful liver. 2 cor 9:7

It is thanksgiving.  Are you full?  Do you see that God has given you so much?

If you do than just savor the love.

Feel the love.

And now, having rece ived, yuou are ready for the season of Giving.

As we enter this Christmas, may  you find more joy than you have ever known, in giving, and in receving.

Lets pray

Freely freely we have received freely freely give.

God forgave my sin in Jesus' name,
I've been born again in Jesus' name,
And in Jesus' name I come to you
To share His love as He told me to.

Chorus:
He said, Freely, freely you have received;
Freely, freely give.
Go in my name and because you believe,
Others will know that I live."

All power is given in Jesus' name,
In earth and heaven, in Jesus' name;
And in Jesus' name I come to you
To share His power as He told me to.

Chorus

It Is Pentecost Sunday - Where Are You Going - Acts 1:1-8 05/27/2012

Sermon 5-27-12 *

It is Pentecost Sunday.
Title - where are you going?
Acts 1:1-8 NIV 1984

1 In my former book,(A) Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach(B) 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven,(C) after giving instructions(D) through the Holy Spirit to the apostles(E) he had chosen.(F) 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them(G) over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.(H) 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait(I) for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.(J) 5 For John baptized with[a] water,(K) but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”(L)
6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore(M) the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.(N) 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;(O) and you will be my witnesses(P) in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,(Q) and to the ends of the earth.”(R)

What is Pentecost Sunday
50 days after Passover – Easter
Festival commemorating the giving of the law on Sinai
That is why all of the people were in the city

Commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit
Disciples waiting upper room [check acts 2 story]
Tongues of fire on their head
Wind blowing through
They are empowered to share the story of love

How does your life feel? Empowered? Powerful spiritually? Or not
Let’s talk about our life
Our relationship with God

What are we pursuing?
What do we want?
What do we pray for?

Maybe the reason that we don’t sense the presence of the spirit is that we are asking for the wrong things and heading in the wrong directions

The disciples still wanted Jesus to overthrow the Romans

You will receive power
Power to what?
To make money? To buy a truck? To live in a nice house?
To live a long healthy life
If the Christians in Mozambique cannot have such things, why would Christians in America pray for such things?

Power to what

What are we expecting god to do for us
God has already done something for you in Jesus
What are we expecting god to do for us
Vs
What can I do for you, God?
The jfk thing, ask not what your country can do……..

Power to be my witness. To Jerusalem Judea to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth
To those we like, to those we don’t like, and ultimately to everyone
Oh t o be a witness. Does that scare you?
Not surprising- because of how so many Christians go about it
• The anonymous letter in the mail from a supposed neighbor
• My trips to sf to golden gate park
• My daughters accosted on the beach
• the street preacher in st Louis/daytona

Ok. We don’t want to be that.
Does that let us off the hook? Can we not just go on our merry way?
Or does god still expect us to witness

Still nervous
Let me put it this way
When you get up and head into your day, do you go for you
Or do you go for him. For God

You will receive power. Power to what.
To overcome your fears
To see the good
To live a life of love
To know where you are going

When we go for god we are his witnesses. Every kind word, every kind act, every hug, every act done in the name of Christ is a witness
There is nothing secular. You are a Christian living on behalf of Christ.

Examples
Darren Copeland – from bball to softball to worship
Man in the office- steps up to the plate for another man
Going to Joplin – the work we have done there, should we have just stood on the curb and preached?
Something changes in us. Something changes in them

=-=-
conclusion

God always sends you to people
If we are listening, we are sent from our comfort zone to a place of care and ministry

Where are you going?
What message will you carry?

What will you share? What is your message?
How would you do it without words?

Prayer- Lord please show me someone that I can care about for you today




Mark Stanton- my project move this or delete
Didn’t work. I gave up. Asked kindly
Why did you agree to go this time?
Because now you are acting like a friend
Before you were a jerk
When we make someone our project we totally miss the point

Acts, Part 7 Acts 16:25-34 07/24/11

Sermon 7-24-11 Acts - pt 7 Acts 16:25-34

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

Three things to look at today

1. Philippian jailer and his house

The clan
The post reformation/enlightenment outlook
The pre reformation world
Abraham

Genesis 12-The Call of Abram
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Jacob and essau – birthright, meeting up later
Constantine -324 Christianity is official
Women and children were property
So it is not a surprise that he and his house are coming to faith

What do we learn from this?
We are no longer living with clans- head of household
But there are ways in which we have to teach our families

Me and my house, we will serve the lord
Encourage them
Understand them- humans are going to do human things

Didn’t Jesus understand that humans do human things

Common goals in marriage

The klan gave kids a story
We often do not give our kids a story
So the culture does
The kardashians
The housewives of orange county
Ufc

Leonard sweet - Our culture tells us that the trees move the wind
The car will make you happy

Imprinting stories on the life of your kids

The 2 commandments love the lord your god, love yr neighbor as yourself

2. Our theology of how god works
We don’t know what to do with this passage
People coming to faith en mass with out their own choosing
The story must be missing something
We choose to ignore it

We like the story of paul on the road to Damascus or the etheopian eunuch
They made an individual choice

We don’t know what to do with this passage
Or the good Samaritan passage for that matter
We like it as a nice story about caring
But we don’t believe that people get to heaven for being a good person

We have a certain picture of how it works and God better be sure to do it that way
Fact of the matter is, we cannot force God into our ideas of who he is or how he works

This is good news to all of us why may not fit the mold
some of you came to Christ in another way. --- Great
God has many ways of dealing with people

The paradox of Christianity
Peace- sword
Son of god, son of man
Free will – Paul on the road to Damascus
Can’t pin him down

No systematic theology is worth it s salt

The moment we think we have him pinned down we have simply minimalized God
Humanized God

Our theology of how god works needs to be more open

Part three- the circumstances of the apostles
Persecuted- beaten with rods
In jail, in shackles, in stocks

The apostles are praying

What we would have expected from them- help me, save me
Nwlc scotty smith – psalm 73

Ps 73
1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.
12 This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.
21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.

The prayers of the selfish, the burned out,

But look how the apostles are praying
Prayer will release you from your prision

Not just our chains, but everyone’s chains come loose
Who ever’s sins you forgive they are forgiven, who ever sins you retain, they are retained

What are your chains, what are your burdens, your stocks. Are they bringing you and everyone else down, or is god big enough to free you from them