ENCOUNTERING - ARE YOU HINDERING THE MOVE OF GOD

ARE YOU HINDERING THE MOVE OF GOD?

1. Sin is in the camp because the leadership did not/could not see it

a. Joshua offers a lame prayer to the Lord

b. The Lord tells him “Get up”

i. Stop sulking and start seeking

ii. Stop complaining and start consecrating yourself

c. I might say this to the men in the church who stand as the defac-to leaders – in church and home

i. Get up!!!!

Wiersbe, W. W. (1993). Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES

INTRODUCTION

There is a man who stood on the shore of the ocean in wonder and amazement. It is vast and it takes his breath away. He feels small by what he sees and then ponders an even deeper reality: what he sees is not all there is!

The sheer magnitude of that moment, in all of its wonder and awe is swallowed up in the realization that there is more!.... there is MORE than what he has just witnessed and experienced.

That man gave his life to studying and journeying into the heart of the oceans to uncover all that could be uncovered.

That is how it is with God. Coming to worship and going before the Lord is like standing at the shore of the ocean and marvelling at the sight. But beloved,

There is more to the Lord than what we see, or what you have heard in days gone by. The Lord is ready to meet with you and to show Himself to you in greater experiences of power.

That person who goes on a journey to tudy the ocean is called and oceanographer - they study the various aspects of the ocean to gain an understanding of how the ocean relates to all of life, etc.

BUT FOR SOME PEOPLE TODAY THESE WORDS COME OFF BLAND, AND EMPTY.

The person who goes on to journey into the heart of knowing and experiencing the Lord is called Christian.

THERE IS NO EXCITEMENT; THESE WORDS BREED NOT ANTICIPATION;

As the oceanographer does more than just admire the ocean and dis not content with just what he sees...

FPR SOME HERE TODAY, GOD IS MERELY A BY WORD THAT MEANS THE SAME THING AS THE WEEKEND. WE THINK OF HIM WHEN WE THINK OF SUNDAY BUT NO MORE!

YOU ARE EMPTY OF GOD-NESS - GOD-THINKING; GOD-BREATHING; GOD-DESIRE!

BUT HERE IS MY QUESTION

As the oceanographer does more than just admire the ocean and dis not content with just what he sees...

So too is one a Christian who does more than admire God and who is not content with simply knowing the surface of the divine.

HERE IS MY QUESTION TO YOU: ARE YOU HINDERING THE POWER OF GOD?

There is a man who stood on the shore of the ocean in wonder and amazement. It is vast and it takes his breath away. He feels small by what he sees and then ponders an even deeper reality: what he sees is not all there is!

The sheer magnitude of that moment, in all of its wonder and awe is swallowed up in the realization that there is more!.... there is MORE than what he has just witnessed and experienced.

That man gave his life to studying and journeying into the heart of the oceans to uncover all that could be uncovered.

That person is called and oceanographer - they study the various aspects of the ocean to gain an understanding of how the ocean relates to all of life, etc.

That is how it is with God. Coming to worship and going before the Lord is like standing at the shore of the ocean and marvelling at the sight. But beloved,

But the sheer magnitude of that moment is not what ou see. It is the reality that there is so much more ocean to experience. That is how it is with God.

That person who goes on a journey to tudy the ocean is called and oceanographer - they study the various aspects of the ocean to gain an understanding of how the ocean relates to all of life, etc.

The person who goes on to journey into the heart of knowing and experiencing the Lord is called Christian.

As the oceanographer does more than just admire the ocean and dis not content with just what he sees...

So too is one a Christian who does more than admire God and who is not content with simply knowing the surface of the divine.

One who is met

HOW DID THEY HINDER GOD’S MOVE?

I. THE LOSS OF THE LORD’S PERSPECTIVE OF THINGS

· Perspective on what belongs to man – only thing that belongs to man is obedience to God

o Transgressing the covenant (see v 21) INTENTIONALLY OVERSTEPPING WHERE GOD SAID NOT TO GO!

§ When I saw (Intentional Craving)

· Seeing with the idea of knowing what it can do for you

Sight is not bad: but nurtured sight is dangerous. You can see and not crave; but if you see and nurture the seeing then you intentional start to crave or desire something – in this case the evil)

o Coveted (Intentional Contriving)

§ Took a high degree of pleasure in

Took (Intentional Theft)

Hid (intentional deception)

§ To be prevented from being seen/discovered

o The stuff did not belong to Achan.

§ Yet he believed that God would not be truthful to His word of judgment

· , ,

o We don’t even belong to ourselves.

§ Every man was created to live in intimate fellowship with the God who created us; anything less than this is to live in our own flesh and strength

LEST YOU THINK THIS IS OT LOOK AT

II. THE LOSS OF THE LORD’S PRESENCE

omni

a. Moses: if you don’t go with us

b. See James MacDonald chapter

i. If we don’t have the presence of the Lord, you don’t have jesus and if you don’t have Jesus you don’t have life and you certainly don’t worship.

omnipresence versus manifest presence

omnipresence=God is everywhere

manifest presence= God univeIls his power over you and in your life/situation

THE WORLD GETS TO EXPERIENCE HIS OMNIPRESENCE; GOD HUNGRY PEOPLE, FIGHTING AND SEPARATING THEMSELVES FROM SIN IN A DESPERATE PURSIT OF HIM: THESE GET TO EXPERIENCE HIS MANIFEST PRESENCE.

c. Why presence is important

i. Ichabo

OH THE HORROR WHEN THE GLORY OF HIS PRESENCE DEPARTS FROM A SOUL AND FROM A CHURCH!

ii. Presence within us – Holy Spirit

OH THE HORROR WHEN THE GLORY OF HIS PRESENCE DEPARTS FROM A SOUL AND FROM A CHURCH!

1. Grieve Him

a. No growth

b. Not power

c. No hope

d. No life!!!!!!!!!

iii. Men who make peace with life that is outside of the presence of God are men who make peace with the devil, death and hell!!!!!

1. God will not live with, bless or even whisper to a life that is living in known and unconfessed sin and will not sense or know that the presence of the Lord is grieved!!!!!

2. Oh, how strange and how tragic it is to claim to be one with the God of the universe and then live our lives blocking His intimacy with us because of our sin.

3. HOW TRAGIC IT IS TO KNOW ABOUT THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF THE LORD AOF THE UNIVERSE AND YET, EVERY SECOND, BLOCK THE EXPERIENCE OF IT IN YOUR LIFE.

AND WHAT IS MOST TRAGIC: IS THAT YOU LEFT HIM BEFORE HE LEFT YOU!

Isaiah 59:1–2 ESV

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

THIS IS THE WAY OF THOSE WHO ARE CHRISTIANIZED BUT NOT CONVERTED

4. SOMEWHERE USE ,

THOSE WHO PURSUE THE RELIGIOUS, BUT SHUN THE PURSUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS.

YOU SAY: “I KNOW JESUS” BUT IS THAT HIS WORD ABOUT YOU?

DO JESUS KNOW YOU?

ARE YOU LVIING IN KNOWN AND UNCONFESSED SIN?

ARE YOU REFUSING TO REPENT AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE?

ARE YOU MORE HAPPY IN YOUR LIFE THAN YOU ARE IN THE LIFE OF JESUS?

HOW CAN YOU KNOW HIM.

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 ESV

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

1 John 1:5–6 ESV

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

Romans 6:1–2 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Romans 6:1 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

IF YOU ARE IN SIN, AND LIVING IN SIN AND ARE REJECTING THE RIGHTEOUS STANDARD OF GOD YOU ARE REJECTING THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD AND YOU ARE HINDERING THE MOVE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOUR LIFE!

III. THE LOSS OF THE LORD’S POWER AGAINST OUR ENEMIES

a. Without His presence there is no way to stand against your enemies

i. V12 – They could not stand against their enemy until they took away the devoted things

1. Notice: what was TAKEN by Achan and brought into the camp must be TAKEN away – outside the camp

b. Loss of power over sin

i. World, flesh, devil

ii. No power over sin; only defeat

1. Defeat in your own lusts within your soul; you cant long for anything that is godly; not longing for the Word of the Lord; no longing for prayer because the lusts of your flesh keep beating you down moment by moment, etc.

2. You think that you can win by just fighting; BUT YOU HAVE LOST THE PRESENCE OF GOD

a. You are defeated because God is not with you

b. You can try all you want, but in your disobedience and in your coddling of sin and in your affirmation of others in sin; you are defeating yourself moment by moment because you are blocking the presence of God in your life

i. It matters that you know of someone’s sin and not tell them; it is our business because one man’s sin in the camp will only bring about a weakness of the whole and a loss of the divine power and influence of the Spirit of the living God.

IV. WHAT DO YOU DO?

1. Mourn over sin (in the church and your personal sin)

(repent)

You need to walk in the obedience of repentance: that is turn away from your sinful ways and the things that have caused God to remove His powerful present hand from your life.

Don’t feel sorry for yourself; tremble because your sin will send you to eternal hell: away from the Lord for all eternity.

You have heard the heart of the Lord regarding you sin… tremble and obey Him by doing away with your transgressions

a. This is the heart of “take it away” and “destroying it”

i. Don’t just take away an action, thought, feeling, etc.

ii. Destroy the affections and the disobedience that bring them about!

2. Memorialize the exposure of your sin lest you forget

promises that God will make the Valley of Achor “a door of hope” for the Jews. Certainly Israel has been in the “valley of trouble” because of her rejection of Christ, but one day the nation will turn to Him and find hope.

(Valley of Achor)