The Goals of God

When God Draws Near

James 4:8 ESV

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

How do we come near to God?

Since the fall of man, we have sought an easy way to God.

Something within us

++Cries out for connection

++Realizes that there is more

++Senses, craves for the creator

Job 23:3 ESV

3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!

Coming near to God was never easy

God is

++Holy

++Righteous

Man is

++Sinful

++Carnal

This is an extreme incompatibility

God’s real desire

++Created a pathway to him

++Is to restored what was broken

Isaiah 58:6 ESV

6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

God doesn’t want us to be

++Bound by wickedness

++Strapped to a yoke

++Trapped by oppression

++Motivated by compliance

The Goals of God brought a new liberty to us.

God’s Goals Toward You

Isaiah 58:8 ESV

8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

God’s Goal toward you

++Lead by His righteousness

++Guarded by His glory

God’s Goals Through You

Isaiah 58:9 ESV

9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

God’s Goal Through You

++Effectiveness

++You will say

++God will answer

God’s Goals For You

Isaiah 58:14 ESV

14 then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

God’s Goal for You

++Know Who’s you are

++Walk in your reward