“Seek God, Not Idols!” - Part 2

Key Point: God is requiring us to seek Him with more fervor (intense and passionate feeling) than we do not our idols. God wants us to seek Him only.

Discuss playing gAmes outdoors.

This will be used as 1) a reminder that Jesus can always be found. Story about Hide and Go Seek! Everyone is supposed to hide somewhere, out of sight. And one person or multiple people were supposed to go find them. The purpose of the game was to be the last person to be found or hopefully not be found at all. This is not the intent with God. God wants us to find him. The app will be used as 2) a compass to see how far we have moved away from Him.

When you want something really bad from your parents. Or when you want to hang out with your friends and will do anything. When you love your friends and girlfriend/boyfriend. When you love certain foods that you crave. So, God is not saying to have the same kind of love for it. God’s love is different. God is saying to look at your pursuit that you have for “idols” and weigh that against the pursuit for me.

Acts 17:24-28 “24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”

Who is Paul. Who was Saul? He was a missionary. We see him on several missionary journeys throughout the book of Acts.

What is significant about Athens? Athens was a port city, many people had access to it. A city of philosophy (knowledge and thought). A city of idols.

Recap: Seek God’s love vv24-26 [ He did all of this…for us] He created all of these things, he gave, not for His health, but because He loves us. Question: How do we know something is God’s love? Use 1 Cor 13:4-8 “4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.” Love knows us! Love sees us! Love loves us back! Love gives John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Seek God’s location v27 [He is with us; trust word; Immanuel - God with us]

Question: How do we know where God is? The difficulty of finding God is not His distance from us, but in our distance from Him due to the blinding of effect of sin/bad things. God is not far from us. “Find my iPhone” feature. This feature makes it easy to keep track of your Apple devices. (Sorry Android users). We’re good to track our apple products, so with your help, I want to launch “Find my Jesus” at David Chapel. Instead of the beep…just say Immanuel which is “God with us.”

One of the barriers of seeking is....DARKNESS. What’s dark? The world. How can you seek God in the darkness? The answer is God. We need God to get to God. In Psalm 119 (longest Psalm - 176 verses is a hymn in praise of appreciation for God’s instructions; to those who are faithful).

Psalm 119:105 “105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The Bible uses the lamp metaphorically as a guiding light. It’s also practical. We see Jesus after being Baptized gets tempted by the devil. Darkness will make you think one thing, but God has already overcome darkness. Jesus did this by the Word. Use the lamp (the Word) to guide you back to Jesus.

God’s love requires a response. “God did all of this in v26...that they should”… do something.God created humanity/us, space, and time.... Question: What are we doing in response? WE CAN NO LONGER SIT IDLE WHILE IDOLIZING. So, the passage tell us that we should “feel (or reach out) and find Him (God). The Greek form of the word “Feel” is an expression of action. It does not indicate completion or continuation, meaning we should be feeling constantly and consistently. So reach out your hands…we should leave our hands like this for the rest of KYC.

3. Seek God’s lifestyle v28 [He wants us to find our identity in Him]

In God do we have life, we are able to move and operate, and we exist and have hope. Question: why wouldn’t we want to stay connected to the creator? The strategy is to get to know the one who has the codes. There is a certain way and expectation for Christian living. It’s not to say we are to be boring. But we are to be “other than.”

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (ζητέω)

The basis here is the Greek use of zētéō for philosophical inquiry (cf. 1 Cor. 1:22; Acts 17:27) and the LXX use for seeking God (cf. Rom. 10:20). The seeking of God in prayer in Mt. 7:7ff. follows LXX usage. Seeking covers the broader orientation of will: the seeking of God’s kingdom and righteousness (Mt. 6:32–33), the seeking of things above (Col. 3:1), the seeking of the great goal of life (Mt. 13:45), the seeking of justification (Gal. 2:17). Such seeking can be perverted into the request for a sign whereby the demand of the gospel may be evaded (Mk. 8:11–12).

Be careful that we don’t just ask for a sign and miss the Savior (Jesus Christ).

eye-mee (imeee) or i am: To be, to exist, to happen, to be present. egṓ eimí as a self-designation of Jesus in Jn. 8:58 (cf. 8:24; 13:19) “have our being” in this context is the plural form ‘i am.”

Practical Application

Ask the Question: What can we do to seek and find God?

Turn on your Find my Jesus app - you have to get in right relationship. You must establish a connection with Jesus.

Get active in your relationship with Jesus Christ - study scripture, listen to Godly music, pray, be overly proactive in your household when it comes to your faith. Ask me questions or your parents questions…in all of your getting…get an understanding.

Invitation to Christian Discipleship

This is a time to get closer to the God already loves you. We believe that God loves us, and He loves us so much so that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:9 “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

If you are not “saved”, we offer a time to sit and reflect on this scripture and to accept the invitation. If you are saved, we offer this time to reflect on your relationship with God and to adjust your location to God and to align your lifestyle with His expectations.

Pray