The Reward of Seeking

🔥 DRAW NEAR

Week 3 — The Reward of Seeking

“What Happens When We Refuse to Stop Looking for God”

for the past two weeks we’ve talked about drawing near.

We’ve talked about

the invitation to pursue God.

We’ve talked about

staying faithful when God feels distant.

and so....at some point, every sincere believer asks the same honest question:

What happens if I keep seeking?

Does God actually respond to my pursuit?

Is there something on the other side of perseverance?

Scripture is not vague about this.

I KNOW THIS MAY BE A SHOCK....But it may not answer us the way we expect.

God does not respond to curiosity.

He responds to hunger.

📖 HEBREWS 11:6

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

(Pause)

Notice what Scripture connects to faith.

Not activity.

Not familiarity.

Not proximity.

But earnest seeking.

Which raises a necessary question:

What does the Bible actually mean when it talks about seeking God?

1. SEEKING GOD IS A MATTER OF THE HEART, NOT PROXIMITY

I BELIEVE....THAT ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS IN OUR WALK AS BELIEVERS IS...

We often assume that being around God is the same as seeking God.

But Scripture makes a careful distinction.

You can be close to holy things

and still distant in heart.

LETS LOOK AT....

📖 JEREMIAH 29:11–13

Jeremiah 29:11–13 NIV

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

God does not say,

“You will find Me when you stay busy for Me.”

He says:

“When you seek Me with all your heart.”

OH COME ON SOMEBODY.....

Seeking God is not about location.

It is about orientation.

LET ME SAY IT THIS WAY.......

SEEKING GOD IS NOT ABOUT WHAT YOUR DOING FOR HIM

IT’S ABOUT THE ORIENTATION OF YOUR HEART TOWARD HIM

ISAIAH SYS IT LIKE THIS.......

📖 ISAIAH 29:13

Isaiah 29:13 NIV

13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

God does not deny their nearness.

He questions their affection.

LOOK AGAIN AT MARY AND MARTHA

📖 MARY & MARTHA — LUKE 10:38–42

“Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made…

but Mary sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.”

Both women love Jesus. Both are in the same house. Both are near Him.

But only one is seeking in that moment.

OH MY LORD, HELP US.....

Martha has proximity.

Mary has posture.

HERE’S THE THING....

Jesus does not rebuke Martha for serving.

He addresses what was happening....

inside her while she served.

(IMPORTANT)

LET ME SAY THIS CLEARLY

PLEASE DO NOT MISUNDERTAND ME....

Serving is good.

Showing up matters.

Faithfulness honors God.

But Scripture teaches that serving must flow from seeking..........not replace it.

OH COME ON....DID YOU HEAR ME.....

SERVING MUST FLOW FROM SEEKING

WATCH THIS.....

📖 JOHN 12:26

John 12:26 NIV

26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Notice the order:

Follow

Then serve

Then honor

OH COME ON....

We don’t serve to earn God’s presence.

We serve because we’ve already been with Him.

DOES THAT MAKE SINCE?????

I CHALLENGE YOU TO HONESTLY ASK YOURSELF.....

Am I serving God from overflow —

or am I using activity to avoid slowing down with Him?

2. SEEKING GOD EXPOSES WHAT WE REALLY WANT

Seeking God has a way of revealing motives.

Not just about Him —

but about us.

📖 AMOS 5:4–6

Amos 5:4–6 NIV

4 This is what the Lord says to Israel: “Seek me and live; 5 do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” 6 Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.

Israel was religious.

They were active.

They were familiar with worship spaces.

But God says:

You are seeking places, outcomes, and systems —

not My presence.

Seeking God confronts what we’re actually after.

THE QUESTION IS THIS....

If God gave you clarity but not comfort —

would you still pursue Him?

OH COME ON SOMEBODY....

If God gave you presence but not answers —

would He still be enough?

THINK ABOUT THAT.....

God does not exist to support our plans.

He invites us to surrender to His presence.

3. SEEKING CHANGES THE SEEKER, BEFORE IT CHANGES THE SITUATION

This is where many people get discouraged.

Because we often expect seeking God to fix circumstances first.

But Scripture shows a different order.

LETS LOOK...

📖 PSALM 27:4

Psalm 27:4 NIV

4 One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

David doesn’t ask for answers.

He asks for nearness.

God reshapes OUR desire

before He rearranges direction.

OH COME ON SOMEBODY.....

ARE YOU seeking God to escape something —

or to become someone?

If seeking God hasn’t changed your situation yet, it may already be changing you.

WHAT DID WE SAY LAST WEEK?

WE GOTTA REMAIN IN HIM

4. SEEKING GOD IS A PRACTICE, NOT A MOMENT

OH MY LORD.....I SAID SEEKING GOD IS A LIFESTYLE....SOMETHING YOU DO OFTEN

OH COME ON....

Scripture never treats seeking as a one-time experience.

It treats it as a pattern of life.

........WORSHIP TEAM JOIN ME..............

📖 MATTHEW 7:7–8

Matthew 7:7–8 NIV

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Asking, seeking, knocking —

this is sustained pursuit.

OH COME ON SOMEBODY....

IT’S Not impulse.

IT’S Not convenience.

IT IS perseverance.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO THINK ABOUT THIS...

What MIGHT God do....

if I stopped treating pursuit as occasional

and started treating it as essential?

I HOPE SOMEBODY IS GETTING THIS.

Clarity doesn’t come from intensity.

It comes from consistency.

5. THE GREATEST REWARD OF SEEKING...IS GOD HIMSELF

Up to this point, Scripture has been correcting our assumptions.

We assume seeking God leads to:

clearer answers

improved circumstances

relief from pressure

sometimes God does those things.

But Scripture is clear about something deeper.

God does not reward seekers instead of Himself.

He rewards seekers with Himself.

I LOVE WHAT DAVID WRITES.....

📖 PSALM 27:8

Psalm 27:8 NIV

8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.

David doesn’t say,

“Your hand, Lord, I will seek.”

He doesn’t say,

“Your answers, Lord, I will seek.”

He says,

“Seek Your face.”

In Scripture, God’s hand represents what He does.

God’s face represents who He is.

David is saying:

“I don’t just want what You do. I want You.”

OH MY LORD THAT IS SO GOOD....

This is where many pursuits quietly break down.

We seek God until:

the pressure eases

the crisis resolves

the door opens

the season shifts

Then pursuit BEGINS TO fade.

CHURCH.... If God is only valuable when He fixes something,

we were never seeking Him —

we were seeking relief.

📖 PHILIPPIANS 3:7–8

Philippians 3:7–8 NIV

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ

📖 PSALM 27:8

Psalm 27:8 NIV

8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.

CHURCH.......

God is not the means to an end.

He is the reward.

I WANT TO CLOSE WITH THIS QUESTION....

If God never changed another circumstance IN YOUR LIFE —

would His presence still be enough?

“KEEP SEEKING”

this response SHOULD not BE JUST emotional —

it SHOULD BE intentional.

AS THE WORSHIP TEAM PLAYS....

If you’re choosing to say:

“I’m not quitting.”

“I’m not drifting.”

“I’m not settling for proximity over pursuit.”

Then COME

Not because you have answers —

but because you are hungry.

CLOSING SCRIPTURE

📖 HEBREWS 10:23

Hebrews 10:23 NLT

23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

WE SERVE A GOOD GOD....

A FATHER THAT WANTS DEEP AND INTENTIONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS CHILDREN

YOU CAN TRUST HIM

I CHALLENGE YOU TO LEAN INTO HIM

TO REMAIN EVEN WHEN IT’S QUIET

EVEN WHEN IT’S DIFFICULT

BECAUSE HE WILL KEEP HIS PROMISES

AMEN?

CLOSING PRAYER

“Lord, stir hunger in us. Teach us to seek You with our whole hearts. Let our service flow from devotion. And may Your presence be our greatest reward. In Jesus’ name, amen.”