What’s Keeping You From Experiencing God?

When it comes to experiencing God many people are missing out, not because God is holding back on them, not at all but because they are unwilling to do what is necessary to experience God.  They may talk to people about wanting to experience God, they tell others how they strongly desire to really know and experience God but they are unwilling to take the steps to do so.  I remember when I was college I had friends who would talk about how they would like to have better grades, but instead of buckling down and studying they would go and hang out with their friends.  In Luke chapter nine verse 57-58 we read about a guy who was all talk.   “Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” ^ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Let us think about this quick conversation Christ has here with this man, this guy really sounds like the real deal.  I’ll follow you wherever you go.  Christ basically calls him out, really anywhere? I have no home, I don’t know where my next meal is coming from, I sleep outside on the ground sometimes.  I have no true home, I’m homeless, you still want to follow me?  Apparently that is all Christ had to say, once he heard that he split.  When he learned what he had to give up in order to experience Christ he decided that maybe he really wasn’t ready to go anywhere.  In His book Not A Fan Kyle Idleman ask the question; “we may be quick to say to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever …” But let’s move it from the general to the more specific. Where is the one place you find it most difficult to follow Jesus? If you said to Jesus “Wherever,” where do you think is the one place he would point to and say, “What about there?” Wherever? What about in your own home? There is the tendency to carry a cross and follow Jesus, but before we walk in the door of our own home, we leave the cross on the front porch. Instead of submitting, you stand up for your rights. Instead of serving, you sit around. Instead of being patient, you are demanding. Instead of being encouraging, you are constantly critical. Instead of being a spiritual leader, you are passive and apathetic in your own home. So what about there? Wherever? What about at work? At 9 a.m. during the week, you’ll find many fans getting out of their cars and saying to Jesus, “You wait here. I’ll be back to get you around 5.” When they clock in to work they clock out of following: You justify greed by calling it ambition. You rationalize dishonesty by calling it shrewd business. You stay quiet about your faith at work and call it being tolerant.”

Are we really being honest with ourselves when we say I want to experience God in my Life?  If we really want to experience God we have to let Him into all areas of our lives, we must be ready to go and show others who God is. That could be in our own living rooms, showing our wife/husband and kids the love of God.  Our maybe it is at work letting those we work with know who God is through how we work and treat people,  Instead of talking ill of others we build others up and make sure that they know we go to church.  Instead of looking out for what we want we ask God what do you want, where do you want me go today and share your love.  Are you ready to show the world what it means to be obedient to God, and to follow Him wherever He takes you?

Idleman, Kyle (2011-06-07). Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (pp. 177-178). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Do We Really Want to Experience God?

There comes a point in all of our lives where we have to make decisions on where we are headed.  I remember when I was deciding whether or not to ask Autumn to marry me.  This was a big decision I knew if I wasn’t going to I was going to have to break up with up with her.  I knew once I asked her I couldn’t take it back.  I also knew what the answer was going to be.  This was a life changing decision I had to make.  But I made it and have not regretted it since.  There comes a time in our lives when we have to decide are we going to truly experience God or are we going to continue to live just sort of following but not really.  Let me explain, if we truly want to experience God we have to accept His call to follow Him, to go where He asks, to give up what  He wants us to give up, it’s not just a part of our lives it is everything.   We come to a point in our lives where we realize, I have to either continue down this path our I have to jump in and give everything.   Many call this point in our life a crises moment, that moment where we decide to give God everything or turn and run away.  Too many times we want to be able to see how God plans on doing His work through us before we give Him everything.  We want to walk by sight not by faith.

Hebrews 11:6 says; “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  The question we must really ask ourselves is, are we truly wanting to please God or please ourselves?  Are we only coming to church because it makes us feel good about us, or so we can tell others, “oh I am a good person because I go to church”, or maybe we come to church because that is how we were raised.  I was one of those who went to church because that is what my family did on Sundays.  I went and I felt safe where I was in life.  I had decided to go to college and get a degree in Law.  Then one night I was sitting in a revival service, when I suddenly was approached with the thought I am called to go into ministry, after a lengthy conversation with God on why this was a bad idea I realized I had to choose either go my on my own do what I felt I wanted to do, or follow God in faith go where He wanted me go.  I am not saying that God is calling you into ministry but He is asking you to give Him your all.

Moses himself when called to go and to do what God had called him to do had a long discussion with God.  Moses makes a list of reasons to why he shouldn’t be God’s man. “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exod. 3:11) “If I go to the Israelites and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what should I tell them?” (Exod. 3:13) “What if they won't believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” (Exod. 4:1) “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant—because I am slow and hesitant in speech.” (Exod. 4:10) “Please, Lord, send someone else.”(Exod. 4:13). “In each case, Moses doubted God's power more than he was questioning his own ability. He faced the crisis of belief: Is God really able to do what He says? God finally convinced Moses to become involved in delivering Israel from slavery. Moses' faith is described in Hebrews, however, as a model of self-sacrifice and trust in Almighty God. Once God let Moses know what He was about to do, that revelation became Moses' invitation to join Him. The writer of Hebrews describes Moses' faith and action:”(Blackaby) “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin.…By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king's anger, for he persevered, as one who sees Him who is invisible. By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned.” (Heb. 11:24-29)  The question I ask you today are you ready to take that step of faith and say “I am going to give everything to God and let Him lead me.” 

Blackaby, Richard (2008-09-01). Experiencing God (pp. 47-48). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Growing Closer to God by Serving God:

We are in a society that hates the word serving; we do not like to think of serving someone.   We like to complain about our boss’s or teachers or those who try to tell what to do.  We celebrate those who have been able to become their own boss.  But is that what the bible calls us to do,  does it say go out and be your own person do your own thing?  No it does quit the opposite, it tells us if you want to grow in God then you must serve God.  Paul tells us this, “Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had.  Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God.  He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.”(Philippians 2:5-8)  We are to be as Christ was, Christ came to earth serving His Father in Heaven.  He didn’t come to break the rules of His Father or to become His own,  He came to bring honor to His Father.

We must come to understand that we must come into an attitude of being an obedient servants to God.  We want to see God do all kinds of amazing things in our lives, but we want them on our terms.  Have you ever been watching T.V. and a commercial comes on for some type of schooling or training?  They always say learn this trade and be your own boss, decide how many hours you work in a work.  That is how many people seem to be viewing God, come join a church claim to be a follower and when you need a miracle just ask God and he will provide.  We have forgotten, that God works through those who are obedient to Him.  Christ said, “You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,  and whoever wants to be first must become your slave.  For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”(Matt. 20:24-28)

“The common understanding of a servant is someone who approaches the master and says, “Master, what do you want me to do?” The master tells him, and the servant goes off and does it. But that is not the biblical picture of a servant of God. Being God's servant is quite different from working for a human master. While an ordinary servant labors for his master, God works through His servants.”(Blackaby, Richard)  God is calling all us to come and serve Him and watch Him do amazing things through us.  You may be sitting there thinking to yourself I am just not good enough, smart enough, I don’t talk all that well, I’m not bold enough…  that’s ok Paul tells us this in 1st Corinthians 1:26-28; “²⁶ Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. ²⁷ Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. ²⁸ God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, ²⁹ so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God

.^”Blackaby, Richard (2008-09-01). Experiencing God (pp. 31-32). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Am I Getting In The Way of God?

It seems like a strange question to ask, but let us ask it, are you getting in the way of having a great relationship with God?  When we begin to look at most relationships that go wrong, it mostly because one or both people involved are too focused on themselves.  We live in a society that tells us day in and day out that it is about us, what makes us happy.  When I first got married I would go and buy flowers for Autumn every couple of weeks, I would buy her things and do all kinds of things for her.*  Then we would get into a fight and I would say look at all I do for you, I thought all these things I did would make her realize what a great husband I am. I believe we do the same thing with God, we do all kinds of stuff and then say look at all I have done for you.  We all have this draw to be self-centered; we want what is going to make our life better.  We want the whole thing without having to give up anything.  So we come to God and we hear that He wants to have a loving relationship with and we say, “that is great, I can do this for God.”   We go out and start making all kinds of plans of how we can do things for a God that loves us.

The thing is God doesn’t  ask that we do things for Him but that we spend time in fellowship with Him.  We tend to be asking the wrong question.  We are asking “what is God’s will in my life?” When we  should be asking “what is God’s will?”  Notice the difference in the two questions, the latter question we are taking me out of the picture and putting God first.  Richard Blackaby puts it this way, “because people are naturally self-centered, we tend to view the whole world—even God's activity—in terms of our own lives. Of course, we want to know what we should do and how events will affect us. But that is actually an inverted life-perspective. Once I know God's will, then my life gains its proper perspective, and I can adjust my life to Him and to His purposes. In other words, what is it that God is purposing to accomplish where I am? Once I know what God is doing, then I see what I should do. My focus needs to be outward on God and His purposes, not inward on my life.”

Christ tells us this, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”(John 15:5, I recommend reading John15:1-17)  If Christ is the vine then that means all we have comes from Him, our strength, our wisdom, everything.  We are so busy making plans and trying to bring glory to God that we have forgotten that it is not about us bringing glory to God, but God bringing glory to Himself through us.  We like to make plans and try to grow God’s church and see people saved, we want a blueprint on how to do this.  When God asks us to do something we want to know what the results are going to be.  If you are feeling a time of spiritual dryness it could be that you are too busy trying to depend upon yourself. 

* I still do all kinds of things for Autumn don’t think it stopped after a couple of years.

Blackaby, Richard (2008-09-01). Experiencing God (pp. 22-23). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

What Does The Resurrection Mean For Us?

Many think that this must the best time of the year to pastor a church, after all the sermons are basically easy to come up with, right? Not really each Easter means we have to look deeper into the Resurrection then we did the year before. It means we must take a good long look at ourselves. Look at a culture that is continually trying to call itself Christian yet take Christ out of being a Christian. They want the name and the title but do not want to truly follow Christ. Frances Chan describes it like this, “Somehow many have come to believe that a person can be a "Christian" with out being like Christ. A "follower" who doesn't follow. How does that make sense? Many people in the church have decided to take the name of Christ and nothing else. This would be like Jesus walking up to those first disciples and saying, "Hey, would you guys mind identifying yourselves with Me in some way? Don't worry I don't actually care if you do anything I do or change your life style at all. I'm just looking people who are willing to say they believe in Me and call themselves Christians." Seriously?” (Francis Chan Multiply) Yet as we continue down this path, I realize it is important for us to get back to the basics. Starting with why did Christ have to die on the cross, couldn’t God come into a relationship with us some other way?

The answer to that question is found in Romans 5:12-21; “When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. And though there was no law to break, since it had not yet been given, they all died anyway—even though they did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. What a contrast between Adam and Christ, who was yet to come! And what a difference between our sin and God’s generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s bountiful gift. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins. The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam’s one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness makes all people right in God’s sight and gives them life. Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God’s sight. God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Notice how Paul explains it here, he says because of Adam sinning we are all born into sin, but because of Christ being obedient we are all forgiven. Christ came to earth to die because we are all sinners. God being a Holy God was not able to completely cover our sins without a perfect blood sacrifice. In the old Testament that was through a perfect lamb, but that system was broken and not working. So at the right time God sent His Son, to die and conquer death Galatians 4:3-4. We were slaves to sin we had no hope until Christ, without His Blood covering our sins we were destined to die. But Christ came, not to judge us or to condemn us but to set us free from sin. Christ Choose to come to earth to die on a cross in place of you and me. He then says all you have to do is, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”(Luke 9:23-24) Wait, that just means I have to say a prayer and say that I am going to follow Christ and my sins are forgiven right? Wrong it means that we come to God and give Him our lives completely. We ask for our sins to be forgiven yes but we also say we are no longer living for us but for God. Kyle Idleman describe like this, “Followers are willing to deny themselves and say, “I choose Jesus. I choose Jesus over my family. I choose Jesus over money. I choose Jesus over career goals. I am his completely. I choose Jesus over getting drunk. I choose Jesus over looking at porn. I choose Jesus over a redecorated house. I choose Jesus over my freedom. I choose Jesus over what other people may think of me.” A follower makes a decision every day to deny himself and choose Jesus … even if it costs everything.” We are to become commented to God, no matter what it may cost. We are to no longer be a part of this world. But we become servants to the God that loves us so much that He sent His Son to die on a cross. The resurrection means we serve a God who defeated death and sin all for us so we could come to Him, so that we might Choose to be His.

This brings up the question is it ok to continue in sin then since the blood of Christ covers our sin? Paul answers that question for in Romans chapter six, “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” (1-4) No we need to realize that by choosing to accept Christ means we are dying to our old life in sin. We are saying that we are no longer going to be a slave to sin but be a salve to God. The resurrection of Christ shows us that death has been defeated, the power of sin is no longer. The blood of Christ is so much more powerful then then that of any animal.

The resurrection of Christ means that we are to change how we live, how we treat people. If we as a church want to see the kingdom of God grow, if we desire to see God working we must first let God work in us. Many times we pray to God ask Him to bring people to church and to change them,

but what if we asked instead that God work in us. That He continues to change how we live. It wasn’t just how the early Christians died that inspired so many people in the ancient world; it was how they lived. Are we living for God our are we living for this world, just looking for what we can get? As we read throughout the Gospels and New Testament, there are two things that come out first, Love God with all our heart mind and soul, which then leads us to come to hate sin, but this is also going to lead us to love others.

Idleman, Kyle (2011-06-07). Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (p. 145). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.