Encountering God Daily

Jeremiah 29:13 “»You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Intro:

(list a few experiences where you wanted to experience something as a child an young teenager)

Story of digging into wall

Jumping off dirt mountains

Restaurant food at my dads job

God created us with the capacity and desire to experience things.

When we read the Bible and we read that Jesus was preaching and the people were being moved and blessed by his message, there is something in me that wants to experience that feeling of hearing Jesus speak to me.

When we read in the Bible that Jesus heals the sick, there is something in me that wants to experience Jesus’s healing me and others around me. We can all relate to that, we all have someone that could use some healing.

When we read how Jesus loved the children and was very merciful with all the people, I want to experience that type of love and the type of relationship he had with his disciples.

God made me with the desire to want to experience things. The way we experience God daily is only possible through the Holy Spirit.

God doesn’t only want you to know “of him” but God wants you to “know him”. There is a huge difference between “knowing of God” and “knowing God”.

What does it mean to ENCOUNTER? :

It is a meeting, an unexpected one.

The pilot tells his passengers that we might encounter turbulence during the flight.

Unexpected, can’t really plan for it but we can prepare for it.

Fasten your seat belts

Brace yourself

Pray (only time you did that month probably)

What does it mean to EXPERIENCE?

You go through something – you experience pain, joy

Using both examples together:

Our encounter with turbulence was a frightening experience

Jeremiah 29:13 was a letter sent recording a message from God to the elders in the beginning of the exile of Judah. The letter was addressed to the elders, priests, the prophets, and all the people taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

That exile had been explained in Jeremiah 25:8-11 and was a consequence for breaking God’s covenant given through Moses.

In that letter, God foretells that the people of Judah would one day return to Him. God says, “You will find me when you seek me with all your heart”

Israel had been worshipping other gods and rebelled against God. That decision brought them to this encounter with God’s anger and punishment. God would use Babylon as His agent of judgement against Israel.

I grew in NYC and was surrounded by many idols and temptations. My older brother was the leader of the local gang in my neighborhood and I was the protected young brother, I was the baby of the hood and no one was allowed to touch me.

I received many threats of death, violence, and weapons waved at me but never amounted to anything physical because I was protected as long as I stayed in my brothers territory.

The letter begins with God exhorting the people to go about normal lives in Babylon, to be a blessing to the cities where they were exiled, and to pray for the welfare of those cities.

Jeremiah 29:4-7 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

I was able to go to school in peace, ride my bike with no fear, be out until 2 am without being afraid of something happening to me, I was living the dream because of my brothers name and protection.

I was able to get an education, have friends, build long lasting relationships, eat good food at anyone’s house, free food from deli’s, etc.

Jeremiah 29:8 “Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.”

God is warning them to not fall for the false prophets that speak sweet, silky, smooth words. They say they are from God but are lying so they can convince you of their dreams and vision.

I fell for this during my time in NYC because I was so untouchable. I went to church because my parents forced me, I kind of liked it, kind of curious, but after having my brothers protection, I thought I could take care of things myself. People would tell me nice things and what I wanted to hear because they feared my brother. They made me believe I was living a great life, especially without God.

My prayers became less and less, my reading was almost none existent, my trust and relationship with God went pretty cold.

One day my brother got arrested for almost a year for armed robbery and that was the worst day of his life and mine. As soon as word got out that he was in jail, all my protection was gone. Guess what I did?

“God, can you protect me now?” All of a sudden, I needed God. All of a sudden I wanted God by my side. All of a sudden I was seeking God but I wasn’t seeking him with all my heart, I was seeking him with all my fear.

My fear of getting beat up, robbed, possibly killed. all the previous threats, all of a sudden, became real to me. It was not a fun year for me.

It was then when I realized that I was weak and vulnerable without God. I was being physically abused at home and was being threatened by people outside my home. It was a tough time in my life, this was my turbulence, but that’s when I had an encounter with God.

God started to speak to me in these moments.

Acts 8:1-3 “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.”

Acts 9:1-2 “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”

I didn’t realize this until my brother was in prison but he was always threatening others, robbing them, until this day I don’t know if he ever went further than harming anyone (I hope not). I was blind to all this because I was enjoying the benefits of his anger and domination of that neighborhood.

Acts 9:3-9: As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

God took away my vision, aka my brother, my protection. After he was arrested, I couldn’t see the threats anymore, I couldn’t see the danger waiting for me.

We normally equate the word encounter to meeting with God, face-to-face.

An encounter is often the result of a deep desire of wanting to know Him more, going deeper and spending consistent quality time with Him and Him alone with no distractions.

Saul’s vision was taken away, he was blind for 3 days. When God takes our vision away we become more sensitive and alert to his voice. When we can’t see, we begin to hear better.

Imaging if we were to turn off all the lights in this building and put a tarp on top of the roof that hugged the entire building. How would we find our way out?

We would begin to extend our hands and try to feel our way around this room and make our way to the staircase and exits. People would start to listen to see who found the stairs and exists. Once you hear someone yell out, “HEY! I found the stairs, follow me!”

How would you follow them? Obviously you can’t see them, you would listen to their voice and follow that voice.

Saul was very religious; he was a good Pharisee who knew the Bible and sincerely believed that the Christian movement was dangerous to Judaism. So he hated Christians and felt justified in persecuting them without mercy. In fact, he felt he was doing God a favor by getting rid of these pesky people who talked about a man named Jesus Christ who had risen from the dead.

I was going to church on Sunday but robbed Deli’s during the week, threatened people during the week. I thought I was doing an amazing job at living life, God loved me because I gave him time on Sunday and gave me time Mon-Sat.

Have you ever been so convinced you were right only to discover later just how wrong you really were? It’s a humbling experience, but don’t feel bad because you are not alone.

I hope you don’t encounter God the way I did, I hope you encounter God through this revival, through this church, through any tough experience you are going through. Doesn’t have to be violent like mine, could be a mental struggle you are having, maybe being bullied at school, maybe struggling with sin or an addiction. At some point we must seek God with all our heart and we will find him.

With every personal encounter with Him, our faith deepens. It requires us to be patient and to wait upon Him to meet us.

We normally hear people say “I had an encounter with God” rather than “I had an experience with God”.

The difference lies in the fact that we experience the goodness and love of God in our lives but we should seek to encounter Him and our lives are transformed as a result of that, as experiences alone are not enough in carrying us through trying times.

Acts 9:10-16 “In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

My Sunday school teacher, Marcos, really taught me a lot in these times and helped me without even knowing it. The Holy Spirit really took a hold of me and guided me through these tough times. Marcos taught me bible verse after bible verse, I remember the first one he taught me John 3:16. Marcos taught me how to have daily devotions with God’s word. Marcos got me back on track.

I love that phrase, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

My brother made many people suffer, I made people suffer, but God is always there to put us in our place. Nothing in my life changes if I didn’t encounter turbulence, if I didn’t encounter God. That encounter with God was something amazing that changed my life around. That encounter with God reminded me that I am a “Chosen instrument”. But I was also reminded that I will suffer for His name.

Once I encountered God I started to experience him in a different way. It wasn’t a Sunday experience like I used to have, it was a deep relationship with God that built up to me fully giving my life to him when I was 17.

Experiences should be the gateway to something significant and not a mere event. It should lead to something greater and more fulfilling.

We’re susceptible to being caught in the emotional-spiritual high of a Spirit-filled seminar or camp, where we experience what it’s like to be found and be soaked in His presence, and almost immediately endure a spiritual low or return to our old selves, days after the seminar or camp. I’m not implying that I’m against experiencing those moments but rather it should be backed up with walking with Him daily. It should be followed up with daily devotionals and being rooted in His Word.

I saw this paragraph online and I loved it:

“The truth is that trying to build a relationship with Jesus on only amazing experiences is like trying to float in a pool on a piece of cardboard. A real, authentic relationship with Jesus is built on Scripture by allowing God’s truth to build and define our character. This draws us into a deeper and richer knowledge of him as we walk our day-to-day lives in step with his will. Bright lights, trendy speakers, attention-grabbing multimedia — or whatever is generationally relevant at the time — will never produce in us an authentic, persevering love for God.

If our hope remains only in these experiences, we are headed for disappointment every time. If we believe that intense emotional experiences are meant to be the substance of our relationship with God, we rob ourselves of encountering the depth of the only connection that will ever truly satisfy the deep longing within.

Each spiritual experience does have a purpose, and that purpose is to stir our affections for Jesus. To ignite a hunger for his presence. To motivate us towards discovering more of him. To change us in the process.”

There are many other drastic, even miraculous turnarounds that can be found in the Bible including:

Prodigal Son

Samson

Jonah

David and Bathsheba

Moses and the burning bush

Saul of Tarsus (Encountering God turned into experiencing God daily and doing big things in his name. Paul was a huge part of the early church and was a key contributor to it’s success.)

All this happened after he had an encounter with God on his way to Damascus.

Acts 9:17-19 “17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.”

How do we begin to encounter God and change the way we experience him? “has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit”

We need to know his word, we need the spirit of God (Holy Spirit).

The word teaches us the truth about God but the spirit reveals the truth about God. Big difference.

The Holy Spirit allows us to experience God in a personal way.

My hope is that you have an experience with Jesus constantly, that you experience more of his love, more of his provision, more of his wisdom, I want you to experience God fully.

The Christian life is a huge experience. A Christian life is continuously knowing who God is on a daily basis.

It’s impossible to know God without the help of the Holy Spirit. It’s impossible to live a Christian life without the Holy Spirit.

That’s why in Act 2 when the church started, 120 people were meeting, praying, worshipping God. The Holy Spirit descended over them and they experienced, not only did they hear about God, they experienced God.

They were filled with God.

That’s what God wants and that’s what I want for you. That you immerse yourself in God.