Being Actively Engaged

deut 4:29 “ And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.”

I thought I should start thinking about doing a sermon just in case I find myself needing to do such thing.

I wanted to do a message on the presence of the Lord.

Being woken up in bed with a message: Labor pains and being actively engaged.

“This is a crowning season for you guys. And that's a metaphor for me that talks about like the birthing period when the baby starts to push out of the womb and I just felt the Lord's like pushing you out of the womb.”

-Bob Hazlet

Ben talked about seeing a boat leaving the the confinements of the marina, heading out slowly while in the wake zone and preparing to accelerate into open waters.

Isaiah 66:7-8 ““Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son. Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin, her children will be born.”

Brian Leach said he sees this group Plowing, planting and reaping all at once.

Seeking His face actively. I’m not leaving until I see You. A mother doesn’t stop until she sees her child.

A woman in labor doesn’t just let it happen to her. She is actively, painfully engaged, it is her only focus. Nothing in the world matters to her at that moment, not how she looks, not her relationship with those around her, not even who she is called to be. Her sole focus is delivering her baby.

During this time of birthing we should be actively engaged, we want to see the Lord. This fast is a birthing period of sorts.

There is pain in the offering in the birth. That means not just sitting back and letting it happen.

How great is your desire to have more of Jesus? Not just in the church but in your life. How actively are you engaged in giving birth?

We don’t want a stillborn movement.

What is the goal for this group? What is the goal for you individually? What is my own goal?

The simple and answer is Jesus. But not Jesus as a “that’s nice to have” but Jesus as a total passion and way of life. To have my flesh burned away and to be left with just Jesus.

As we seek we seek Him are we just letting it happen to us or are we actively engaged with all that’s within us?

That’s the challenge for me. How much do I want to give birth to this movement, this church, in my own life. **I feel like now is the time press in because God’s grace is here in extra measure. He is pouring himself out upon us. It’s a call to arms.

With labor comes discouragement, “I can’t do it”, I’m not living up to who you have called me to be. I’ve failed too many times. But as we continue to seek Him fervently He will bring forth miracles. Not just healing miracles, but the miracle of birth: new life!

There is pain in the offering. Waking up in the middle of the night to write this. Getting up early to have devotions, spending time with Him instead of social media. Forcing yourself to talk to that neighbor about the Lord. Giving up that sin, confessing that sin. Actively engaging means your not actively engaging other things. A woman in labor is not giving birth while simultaneously watching reels on Instagram.

I’m going to believe what You say about me, what You have for me.

Jesus knit us in the womb. Then He died so that we might have life. That’s how actively engaged He was in having us. That’s how much He loves us. The process of being born again.

Why does God want us to seek him so desperately, so intently? Simply because He desires praise? He does desire praise, He dwells in the praises of His people. -He desires communion with us. He desires to bless us. He desires to love on us as a groom loves on his bride.

There are no works here. We just need to show up, to seek His face. A woman doesn’t have to figure out how to make a baby, doesn’t figure out how to give birth, the body knows how and what to do. She just engages with what is happening.

New Living Translation (Chapter 66)

7 “Before the birth pains even begin,Jerusalem gives birth to a son.8 Who has ever seen anything as strange as this?Who ever heard of such a thing?Has a nation ever been born in a single day?Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?

What seems impossible to man is simple to God

But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin,her children will be born.

Here God declares it will happen

9 Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?” asks the LORD.“No! I would never keep this nation from being born,”says your God.

Everything comes down to what the Lord is (9). First, he is faithful to the end: he does not advance his purposes (bring to the moment of birth) only to abandon them; secondly, he is sovereign: what he initiates he completes

Story: I always loved the act of delivery. All of a sudden nothing else matters. Life AND death hang in the balance.

A woman is in labor with anticipation. She is expectant. She is excited to see her child.

1 Samuel 1 Hannah was barren and she prayed and wept and fasted for a son and God answered her and gave her Samuel who was dedicated to the Lord and grew to be a prophet and the last judge of Israel.

Luke chapter 2:36 on Anna was an old widow who was at the temple

She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.

Is 66:10-14 ““Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and all you who mourn for her. Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.” This is what the Lord says: “I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity. The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and held on her lap. I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.” When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. You will flourish like the grass! Everyone will see the Lord’s hand of blessing on his servants”