God who is present
Notes
Transcript
What do I want them to know? The omnipresence of God
Why? It brings hope, encouragement and love
What do I want them to do? Believe, Rejoice, Remember
Why? It brings hope, encouragement, and love.
ME
About 15 years ago I faced the hardest season of my life during my first year as pastor.
Some of you know the details of this season and it is in the season I went through a battle of anxiety and depression, where I saw counselors, took anxiety and depression medication.
There were 3 major catalyst that pushed me into this season alongside and the bigger reason why I was able to be pushed into this season was of two other things that already existed (I say this because I truly believe if these two foundational things were not here I would have faced a hard season, but not depression season)
they were here long before the three things came into my life and this season revealed these things were off
some emotional issues that were not dealt family issues, that I just try to push past and not deal with....not good.
false understanding of the Gospel and who is God....I knew him more here (point to head), even as a pastor, I say that because some people think pastors have it all figured out…nope
Luther didn’t understand the Gospel until had been preaching theology for a couple years and my Pastor growing up did not know Jesus until God met him in his car and had to pull over, and he was an elder
What these 3 things revealed is my view of God was off and I needed to deal with some things.
That was the blessing of the season.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
It was this season that God helped me get healthy and understand the Gospel, truly understand it.
Know the Gospel that I am more sinful than I think or imagine and in the same breath I am more loved and excepted than I ever hope dream or imagine.
What were those three things that happened to push me into this season
The 3 major things that happened in a relatively short time where
First, my pastor mentor friend who lead me to the church I was at the time felt the call to go plant a church…the person I shared my life, worries, cares, discipled me....is leaving....He was my Paul and I was Timothy
Some of you have experienced this, a mentor move away, or life circumstances has them out of your life.
Second, thing that happened to me was that my girlfriend of 2 years who I thought we were about to be engaged to broke up with me.....
then to top it off I had recently graduated college where I had all these close friends and now I am a rather larger church with no ministry to 20 year olds.
I matter of a short period of time I went from close intimate relationships to what felt like no relationships.
I went from RELATIONSHIP BUCKET FULL, to what felt like empty
GOING FROM FULL TO WHAT FELT LET EMPTY led to this feeling that might expect, that I discovered in my counseling session where my face turned white....and I said
- I feel all alone
Scary alone
Have you had that feeling before?
Have you ever felt all alone, that no one was around you, everyone has abandoned you?
But here’s the question
WAS I TRULY ALL ALONE, EVEN THOUGH I FELT ALONE
I FELT IN MY BONES
But was I truly alone? NO
HOW CAN I SAY THAT?
I FELT LIKE IT WAS TRUE, I thought it was true
- Here’s the deal about feelings, something does not have to be true to feel true.
FEELINGS CAN BE FALSE
IT FELT SO REAL THAT IT LEAD ME DOWN A PATH OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
A FALSE BELIEF LED ME DOWN A REAL PATH
We have been here with our feelings, right
OUR FEELINGS LEAD DOWN A BAD ROAD
This is the right decision to make, it feels right and yet it was wrong.
She’s the one, he’s the one
I feel this is the year for the Browns
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE OUR FEELINGS BETRAYED US? COUNTLESS, NOT ALL THE TIMES
GOD GIVES US FEELINGS, BUT THE DEVIL LIKES TO PLAY WITH THEM
I FELT ALONE
BUT THAT WASN’T AND STILL IS NOT TRUE
HOW CAN I SAY THAT?
GOD’S WORD SAYS I AM NEVER ALONE....
Over and over in the narrative of scripture it says that I am never alone.
EVEN IF ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE NOT WITH ME THERE ALWAYS SOMEONE WHO IS
WHO IS THAT GOD?
Who was with me?
God, even though it felt like no one was with me, God is with me.
What does it say in his Word
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
You might feel alone, but it is not true.
Some of us hear this and say yes and amen others of us put the BUT GOD in there and retranslate the verse or it was retranslated for us.
What some of you hear, when you hear, and it is what I have heard for many years....
God will never leave or forsake Christians who are good Christians for those who are faithful, those who are rightous.
For those people God doesn’t forsake
But me, who struggles with sin…God is not with me, I have been unfaithful
This belief makes our faith rest more on our shoulders not God’s....God will be with me if I am good....THIS IS WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS
it is Jesus + my works that makes Him come close
No, it is Jesus and Jesus alone who fully comes, just like the prodigal son story
Also, it is false belief that there are people who do not sin or struggle with sin.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
those people you deem holier need Jesus just as much as you need Jesus.
THIS BELIEF IS NO GOSPEL AT ALL BUT A FALSE GOSPEL THAT WEIGHS YOU DOWN.
a false Gospel that says Jesus’ work on the cross was not enough
HEB 13:5 IS TRUE
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
There is no fine print clause that says He will only be with you if you are in Christ Jesus if you do _____
NOT ONLY THAT TO BELIEVE THAT GOES INTO CONTRADICTION TO GOD’S NATURE,
GOD’S NATURE IS HE IS OMNIPRESENT
Omnipresence of God: God is present in all places; we should not think of him, however, as filling spaces, for he has no physical dimensions. It is as pure spirit that he pervades all things, in a relationship of immanence that is more than we body-bound creatures can understand. One thing that is clear, however, is that he is present everywhere in the fullness of all that he is and all the powers that he has, and needy souls praying to him anywhere in the world receive the same fullness of his undivided attention. J.I. Packer
God is fully present everywhere, 100% of Him, to all of us
He is fully is 100% with people in China, Brazil, Poland, you and you and you
WE CANNOT FLEE FROM THE PRESENT OF GOD AS JONAH TRIED
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish there’s where I am going to go, God’s not there.
Wrong God is omnipresent
There is no place that we cannot go where God is not
THIS IS A NARRATIVE THROUGH SCRIPTURE, OVER AND OVER, GOD SAYS I AM WITH YOU.
THE REASON HE DOES THIS SO MUCH IS BECAUSE WE FORGET AND BECAUSE ONE OF THE DEEPEST NEEDS OF OUR LIVES IS COMPANIONSHIP....WE ARE NOT CREATED TO BE ALONE AND IN ISOLATION
We are going to walk through several passages and we are going to see God keep saying I am with YOU
This what warms David’s heart, a man who lived on the run from his enemies much of his life and alone at times.
Listen to what David says,
a man who lived on the run from his enemies much of his life and alone at times. God’s omnipresent warms David’s heart,
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
David says where shall I go from your Spirit....
IS there anywhere I can go from your presence God?
If we go to heaven you are there, if I go to the grave and the afterlife, you are there
Wings of the morning, travel at the speed of light 186,000 miles per second…i cannot out run you.
If I go to the bottom of the sea, you are there.
EVEN THERE, EVEN THERE, in these far out places your hand will guide me, your hand shall hold me.
Read Isaiah say
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
I dwell in the high and holy place and also with those who are going through life’s difficulties
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND
One night I dreamed a dream. I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.
When the last scene of my life shot before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. There was only one set of footprints. I realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of my life. This always bothered me and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma.
"Lord, You told me when I decided to follow You, You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I'm aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don't understand why, when I need You most, You leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
Moses
When he meets with God in the burning bush he asks God a question
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
The saying I AM WHO I AM
ehyeh asher ehyeh
Carries the meaning that I am THEE God who will be with you.
Moses go to the Israelites he tells them the great I AM has not forsaken you He is with you.
GOD IS WITH YOU
When Jesus comes, what is one of the names Jesus is given? When Jesus comes from heaven to earth
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Immanuel God with us.
Not God distant from us, separated from us
In the muck and the mire
God because human, to be with us
And then when Jesus leaves earth what does God say to His disciples?
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Even though Jesus is going to the right hand of the Father He is still with us.
Not only is he with us, for those in Christ Jesus, that His Spirit is within side us.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
We are the temple of God....some people call this the house of the Lord, actually the house of the Lord is inside you.
The over and over narrative of scripture is God is “with us” all of us equally 100%
And SINCE GOD He is with us, not only are we NOT ALONE, we are that means we are always with ULTIMATE LOVE
because God is LOVE
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
WHAT SCRIPTURE TELLS US AND SHOWS IS THAT NOT ONLY DOES OMNIPRESENCE MEAN WE ARE NEVER ALONE BUT THAT WE ARE ALWAYS LOVED, FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS
And for those who do not know Jesus, Jesus says this offer is available to me…the entry point to Jesus is not get clean up to experience this but come home....
DO YOU KNOW WHAT COMFORT, JOY, AND PEACE THIS BRINGS?
Overwhelming comfort and JOY and PEACE this brings!
COMFORT that our ABBA is with us in every situation
JOY because we are not alone and we are loved
Peace because He is not only with us
Some much comfort that David had no problem sleeping, because David knew God was near and loved Him and protecting him.
I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah
I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
For those in Christ JESUS, you always loved and never alone
US
REMEMBER THIS
Remember this by preaching the truth
Remember this by preaching the truth to our feelings
Remember this by scheduling regular times with God
Rejoice
For those in Christ Jesus we are loved and never alone
Receive
For those who do not know Jesus, Jesus receive me by believing in me.
HAVE HOW TO BE REMINDED OF HIS PRESENCE IS TO SET TIME ASIDE TO BE IN HIS PRESENCE
END WITH APPLICATION OF HOW TO BE PRESENT
OR
COMMUNION