Seek His Face

Good morning Northside - My name is Matt and I am on the pastor’s here and this is my first time speaking to our church ...

It is so good to see all of you here in person as well and for those tuning in from home we are praying for you and asking the Lord to use the silliness and weakness of our human technology to be a vehicle to bring you the strong and enduring hope of Jesus today.

Last week Pastor Jamey spoke a Spirit-filled message on a famous text in Scripture, 2 Chronicles 7, and in a moment we are going to read Verses 12-16 together but let me tell you a story...

I have a friend who is in ministry at a church in another town and he was sharing with me something this last week...

He crafted a response in regards to all of the upheaval going on in our country and shared it with his congregation. The response was well written and well balanced. It called for healing and justice and unity and especially prayer. At the end of the response he wrote that he was going to seek out some of the African-American pastors and community leaders he knows to continue to get more dialogue and understanding. I thought beautiful man, so good.

He got a call from one of his volunteer leaders who has been involved in some of the social demonstrations and the volunteer criticized him for the response and especially the ending. He said: Meeting with those other people who are African-American is NOT what you need to be doing. You need to be going to Twitter for get more understanding...

My Jaw dropped.

For those of you just exploring Jesus this comment is not for you, we hope you get to know Jesus from His words in the Bible, and we would really like to get to know you...

But for those of you who are Christ-followers, who proclaim a faith in Jesus, we need to ask ourselves a hard question...

Does the fuel for my passion and conviction regarding issues in our world come from Twitter or Facebook? Or from CNN or ABC or FOX or any other news media outlet or social media?

As believers our primary source of conviction and direction is to come from the PRECIOUS and SACRED WORDS of GOD. If it is not, shut off your social media, shut off the news and get on your knees and ask Jesus to fill your heart with a deep conviction for HIS TRUTH. Anything less will not do.

So let’s stand as we read the Word of the Lord. We don’t stand for social media, we don’t stand for FOX OR CNN (If you are at home watching it might feel weird but we don’t stand for each other here, we stand to honor the Lord so please join us if you can)

New Living Translation Chapter 7

I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. 13 At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. 14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 15 My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. 16 For I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.

This is the Word of the Lord, Let’s Pray.

There is this wonderful pastor and speaker named Francis Chan, have any of you heard of Francis Chan?

He was teaching through a series at his church years ago and after a number of weeks finished the series. Everyone in his church was happy and came back the next week excited for the “next thing”…

When Francis Chan took the stage he started into the teaching and it was the beginning teaching of the last series he did...

After people asked him, “why are you preaching this same series, we just spent weeks on that?”

His response: “Why would we move on to learn something new, if we are not practicing the first things?”

This reminds me of Revelations 2 and 3. Throughout all of the turmoil in the last few months I have been reading the letters in Revelations to the 7 churches… I am not an expert in the study of the end times, I just find that the things Jesus calls those churches to have been important ever since those letters were written.

Each of those 7 letters have convicting and life-giving truths in them and I would encourage you to read them… but listen to what Jesus speaks to the church in Ephesus:

New Living Translation Chapter 2

I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. 3 You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!

Pastor Jamey and I have been impressed by God to stay in this Chronicles Passage and come back and not just preach these first things but shepherd Northside to practice these first things. Shepherd Northside to come back to our first love.

Remember the first time your eyes were opened to the Good news of Jesus. That he loved us so much to give himself for us, to take our sin and guilt and shame and conquer it all on the cross. To rise from the grave and beat death and hell… to give us the same Spirit that raised him from the dead and to give us a place as sons and daughters to the Heavenly Father… do you remember it? Do you remember what it was like to be fully known and fully loved?

I remember a time when I was 17 and God got ahold of my heart in a radical way… he called me… he led me to deal with an addiction to porn in some intense ways, he led me to humble myself and come out from hiding a hidden life of lies and secrets and confess to the very people I had been lying to… he made me unsatisfied with anything besides him, whatever it took to get to see and experience Jesus… I thought I would get it thrown in my face, I thought I would be looked at differently, I thought I would be hated...

Instead, as Isaiah 61 says, I recieved beauty for ashes… I was brought close to the Jesus and those who were truly following him… I was forgiven… I began to heal… I enjoyed God’s presence and felt the burdens lifted… I experienced the Love of the Father…

New Living Translation Chapter 7

if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore

This was spoken to the people of Israel in a time also of Crisis but the principles of what was spoken still stand for us today. The restoration might not look like and actual physical land and the temple is no longer a place in Jerusalem but in the heart of all who believe and are filled with God’s spirit… But these truths are still calling to us today.

Seek my face… this is on my heart…

The passage in Chronicles reminds me of another very famous passage. Towards the end of Jesus’ famous sermon on the mount he addresses some issues. Specifically, anxiety over life… life can be anxiety producing...

We gathered this last weekend for an impromptu time of prayer and seeking the Lord - it was so good - at one point I felt led to ask the group I was with the question “who is feeling hurt?” “who is feeling angry?” “who is feeling confused?” “who is feeling fear?” - So many hands went up for each one…

Life right now is confusing and anxiety producing… and it’s like were playing social issue whack-a-mole - just when you’ve tried to get to one another pops up...

And Jesus is speaking to these people on the mountain… these people who are not enjoying a peaceful society, a people not enjoying a Godly society… but he still speaks these words...

The New International Version Chapter 6

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness...

Here are 3 things God has been speaking to my heart about seeking His face, His Kingdom and His righteousness...

Jesus did not call us to first seek the results of the Kingdom

The Kingdom is not the Kingdom without the King

Righteousness is not about laws and policies but right-relationship

Jesus did not call us to first seek the results of the Kingdom

The Kingdom of Heaven will be a place with

No more tears

No more sorrow

No more hate

No more division

No more racism

No more injustice

No more generalizations

No more marginalization

No more poverty

No more greed

No more politics

No more brokenness

No more sin...

But at some point along the way people, even Christians, began to work for the results of heaven while leaving the seeking of Jesus behind...

This is a subtle and easy-to-miss difference. Why? Because who is going to say helping people out of poverty is a wrong, or overcoming racism is unnecessary… Who is going to say sacrificing your life in the line of duty is a bad thing…? No one ...

But 1 Corinthians let’s us in on what happens when we seek first the Kingdom Results without a first genuine love for Jesus and others

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 13

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2  If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3–7  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Jesus did not call us to first seek the results of the Kingdom.

We cannot achieve the results of Heaven, we cannot enjoy the benefits of heaven without the King of Heaven

2. The Kingdom is not the Kingdom without the King

This seems really obvious but if you turn on the news for about 30 seconds you will see a world wanting heaven...

You will see people wanting Love to be at the center of everything and yet humanity goes about it by destroying each other

You will see people wanting acceptance and yet humanity radically excludes each other in the process

People are yearning for heaven… Please look beyond the issues of race or politics or money...

People are yearning for heaven… But Heaven is not Heaven without Jesus.

The passage in Matthew does not say seek first A Kingdom… it says His Kingdom.

Randy Alcorn, “Treasure” and “Heaven”, said this - “The best of life on Earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst of life is a glimpse of Hell. For Christians, this present life is the closest they will come to Hell. For unbelievers, it is the closest they will come to Heaven.”

People are yearning for heaven, we are yearning for heaven but trying with man-made efforts to create the benefits of heaven will not do… it never has and it never will.

We need the King of Heaven. We need the author of Life, the one who is himself the definition of Goodness and Love.

We need Jesus. We need to seek the face of Jesus.

3. Righteousness is not about laws and policies but right-relationship

In the scriptures, the term “seek my face” carried a deep understanding…

The Bible sense lexicon says this: the presence or proximity of someone understood in terms of the face; with the implication of being before or in front of them.

This term denotes a sense of intimacy… Seek my face doesn’t just mean seek good things or good laws or good policies… It is relationship

The Hebrew understanding of righteousness was not in regards to laws and right and wrong…

It was relational - are we in right-relationship?

Have you ever noticed when you have wronged someone where the hardest place to look is? Their Face.

We cannot look them in the eye because we feel shame and guilt…

But when that relationship is made right you are drawn to their face...

When you look at someones face, you can see where their eyes are looks, you can tune out all other noise and hear their words...

(Face Slide)

You see the movements and muscles that help you understand what they mean in what they are saying…

When Jesus calls us to seek first His Kingdom and right relationship with him He is echoing 2 Chron 7, seek my face...

These changes we long for in our hearts and in the hearts of others will not be brought about by changes in policies or by programs, they won’t be brought about by posts or protests, they wont come about by trying to convince everyone who isn’t bad or what kind of rights we should all have...

We are longing for heavenly changes that can only be brought about by the one who makes heaven, heaven.

We are always seeking something…People can tell what I am seeking after very easily...

Look at my social media, look at what I spend money on and look at how I spend my time...

Everyone is always seeking something

We must seek the face of Jesus. We must seek right relationship with him. (Possible Alt. Ending Here)

How do we do that? 3 simple things I would call you to do:

1) Come back to your first love - Repent from wondering away from this pure and perfect love in Jesus. Confess and bring to light where you have let ANY other thing come before Jesus, whether is politics or person convenience, or apathy or racism or lust or greed or hate or business… it could be awkward, it could be costly, it’ll be life-giving though… This is so heavy on our hearts...

Come to Jesus Pursuit Church tonight at 6:30p for an hour of worship and prayer - we want to create a space for you to spend time personally and also together doing this very thing…

2) Stop hating others because of ANY kind of difference… It’s not the kingdom way.

The New International Version Chapter 4

We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

You will not hate them enough so they’ll change… it just wont work...

It is not our responsibility to change everyone. It is our call to love as Christ loved us and let the presence of God in our lives draw them to Jesus.

3) This week, daily read out of 1 John. It will be in the the Daily reading on the Website. There are 5 chapters, so read a chapter a day. Seek the face of God in His word and prayer. Find a friend or family member and read it together or just talk about it after you have read it together. Get real. Get into it. Turn your face to Jesus. Don’t look to the right or left but let His word confront and comfort, challenge and clean your heart.

The only way God’s people humble themselves ,pray, seek His face, and turn is if I, as God’s person, does this and if you as God’s person does this. Personal responsibility to seek God’s face will result in a unified church seeking God’s face.

(Possibly the call to a park prayer time again)