NJ - IF YOU SEEK ME YOU WILL FIND ME (7/7/24)

Finding God for yourself

TESTIMONY

INTRODUCTION

Good morning and welcome to Oasis Church, it is great to have you join with us today. If you are visiting with us, we welcome you, and look forward to chatting with you after the service around morning tea.

LETS PRAY

Prayer: Father we thank You for Your grace and love toward us. We pray that we would be filled with Your strength and power that we can walk in all that You have called us to. We ask Your Holy Spirit to bring revelation of Your word that we can apply it to our lives. Amen

As we continue today, I believe as we spend time studying Gods word, He is going to speak to us, we will receive revelation from Holy Spirit, we will be challenged to grow and we will be blessed. I believe that God will minister to all of us, whether you are on a journey of discovering God for the first time, or wherever you maybe in your relationship with God.

If we seek God we will always find Him, He is always there waiting for us to turn to Him. He is constantly pursuing us His creation. We can have confidence in knowing this, because of the cross of Jesus Christ and the relationship we have with Him.

Matthew 7:7–11 NKJV

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

What does it take to find God and have a relationship with Him?

Our natural thinking would be to:

Become a better person,

Work harder,

Do more,

This way God will accept you

None of these work for us to find God and have a relationship with God,

“OUR VALUE IS NOT IN WHAT WE DO”

The bible clearly tells us there is only one way for us to have relationship with Him is to ask Jesus into our hearts to be Lord of our lives. Repent of our sins and believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

God created us, He loves us so much that He wants relationship with us, He wants us to know Him and spend eternity with Him.

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus came so we could know and understand God in a personal way

Through Christ there is a better way for us

Jeremiah 29:11–13 NKJV

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Verse 11: We see Gods plan and blessing for our lives,

(Peace/Future/Hope)

Verse 12-13 We see our part in this.

(Call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.)

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The women at the well

Fear and Shame - God love is so great towards us, that He goes out of His way to get to us.

John 4:1–38 NKJV

1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” 27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” 28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him. 31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

Zacchaeus come down from that tree

Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus and went looking for Him,

The first position didn’t work - Zacchaeus didn’t stop there.

Got in a position that he would not miss Jesus.

Jesus saw Zacchaeus.

Luke 19:1–10 NKJV

1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” 8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

HOW TO FIND GOD?

1. REMEMBER

We need to remember what God has done for us through Christ Jesus. We were and are separated from God because of sin. Jesus washed our sins away and has bridged the separation gap. We find God through Christ Jesus.

AS GENTILES WE WERE ONCE SEPARATED FROM CHRIST.

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

HOW TO FIND GOD?

2. IT IS THE BLOOD

It was the shedding of the blood of Christ on the cross that washes away our sin. The bible tells us in Psalm 51 that we were brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Right from birth we have had a need for the blood of Christ. It is His blood that has dealt with sin once and for all.

Isaiah 1:18 NKJV

18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.

WE HAVE BEEN BROUGHT NEAR TO GOD BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.

BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD WE CAN BOLDLY COME TO GOD

Hebrews 4:16 NKJV

16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

3. OUR PEACE THROUGH GOD

In yielding our live to Christ and accepting Him into our hearts, we can have peace. No matter the circumstance we can have peace of mind and life in times of trouble, heartache and pressure. We need to ask for His help.

Philippians 4:7 NKJV

7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

CHRIST IS OUR PEACE.

Ephesians 2:14 NKJV

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

John 14:27 NKJV

27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

WE ARE MADE PERFECT

John 17:23 NKJV

23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

CONCLUSION

As we finish this morning it is important for us remember that it is through Christ that we can find God. Our Peace/Future/Hope is His plan for our lives. The bible tells us that If we seek Him we will Find Him.

Ask/Seek/Knock: Ask and it will be given to you, Seek and you will find, Knock and the door will be open to you.

1. REMEMBER

Remember what God has done for us is through Christ Jesus.

2. IT IS THE BLOOD

The blood of Christ on the cross that washes away our sin

3. OUR PEACE THROUGH GOD

No matter the circumstance we can have peace of mind

Let’s Pray