God Encounters

Finally Peter, who had denied Jesus and thought he would never be restored from that failure found forgiveness and purpose when He encountered Jesus on that beach.

In fact, the bible is full of people who encountered God and left changed.

Strong

Courageous

Full of wisdom

Look at the disciples a few days later:

Acts 2:14–21 NIV

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

This morning I want to look at an Old Testament encounter between God and one man that changed the course of his life forever. In fact, I believe if we can become as emboldened as this individual, we will become people like all of the individuals we have mentioned so far that cannot help but to share the message of God with all they meet.

But before we get there, I would like to take an opportunity to ask a few people to share a God encounter that you have had in your life.

Who would like to share?

Isaiah 6:1–8 NIV

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

God encounters should be like this. They should grab us, expose us for who we are and lead us to a closer relationship with God.

Isaiah’s response to God is based on three things that he learned by coming into the presence of God. I want to use the text of Isaiah’s commission today to teach us three things about encountering God and how by applying those three things we can make our time of worship more meaningful.

I. GOD ENCOUNTERS ARE ABOUT GOD!

When Moses met God at the burning bush, it was about God!

When Joshua met the angel of the Lord near Jericho, it was about God!

When Gideon met the

When Samuel was called by God, it was about God!

When David slayed Goliath, it was about God!

Here , when Isaiah looks upon the Lord here it is not about Him and how he is worthy to see God, It is completely about God!

God’s presence was everywhere.

Angels are praising His name!

Everything is shaking with God’s power.

· But, you can’t be aware of His presence without sensing His holiness. God’s holiness demands worship and awe. Moses glowed because of God’s radiance! Isaiah here trembles in fear! Coming to the Holiness of God helps us to see our human condition of being imperfect and it helps us to see a God who is perfect. It causes us to question our lives and in that moment His holiness is combined with His presence to remind us that God is Holy and powerful, but wants to be here with us, His creation.

God got Isaiah’s attention and when God gets your attention you need to cease everything you are doing, praise God and listen for what he has to share with you.

Sometimes God’s voice will come in the silence, a moment when you are alone with Him.

Sometimes His voice will come to you when you are in your car and you see that homeless person on the street corner, when you hear Gog tell you to go help them.

Sometimes you will hear his voice come to you through a friend who is their to convict you of your guilt.

But know for sure, that when God comes to you, however he comes to you, it is about HIM!

· When we come to worship and we forget that it is about praising God, we get tangled up in all kinds of trivial things. We worry about whether we will sings songs we like, instead of singing songs to His glory. We look to see if our friends are here with us, instead of remembering that His presence is the most important. You know what I think… I think when this happens it affects us spiritually because we leave worship forgetting that this holy and present God wants to and can help us in our lives. Is there a problem in your marriage or your home life? Lay it at the feet of God. Are you worried about making ends meet or if tomorrow will be better than today? God says to you to not worry but to give it to Him. When worship is focused on God we won’t worry as much about how to do it, we will just do it. What we sing or how we sing won’t be as important, because we will know we are praising Him. The order of our worship will not matter, because we will know that we are in worship. God reminds us in that the most important part of worship is our hearts, The Lord says:

"These people come near to me with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship of me

is made up only of rules taught by men.

· Isaiah’s encounter with God left Him open to God. Our encounter should do the same.

II. GOD ENCOUNTERS BRING DELIVERANCE.

When we look at verse five, we see find a scene that should be familiar to any of us who have had a God encounter.

Isaiah is repenting. He has seen the glory of the Lord and it has left him convicted of his guilt. But God does not leave Him in his guilty state for long.

· But there is also the “big” deliverance that is open to us. God delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt and today He has delivered us from the bondage of sin. As Isaiah finds himself in the presence of God, he realizes his sin. He sees himself as unclean before the Lord and for that moment fears his fate. Maybe this morning you feel the same thing. See if we come into the presence of God by making worship all about Him and we see His holiness. We must see our faults. It is a natural reaction. But instead of being fearful, we can have cause to rejoice as we realize that we have been delivered. The Lord’s Supper is one of many opportunities we have each week to reflect on our deliverance. God encounters in which we see our unholiness, compared to His holiness allow us to see His deliverance. When we see that deliverance and really begin to understand that God delivers in small ways and in big ways, I don’t think we can help but praise Him.

See God wants us to have just enough guilt for it to humble us, but not to debilitate us. Because it is when we become humble, we are open to deliverance. We are open to His presence in our lives. When we are open, he offers forgiveness, see verse 6 and 7. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.

God always wants to forgive us, so he can open us up for life in His kingdom.

III. God encounters result in change.

· As we see God as powerful, holy and in our presence, our hearts should cry out to Him. Then we realize as we cry out that God delivers and I think it is natural that we change. See Isaiah here is confronted with the presence of God, sees that God has the power to change his life and Isaiah is motivated to change. God asks, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” and Isaiah in what I can only imagine is filled with excitement says, “Here am I! Send me.!”

· Our God encounters today should result in change. Every time we encounter God we should leave changed in some way. Maybe we have been encouraged to reach out to a friend in need. Maybe we have been convicted of our guilt and we change to become more like Him. Maybe we find the talent in us to become in some new ministry. But in some way a true God encounter will leave us changed.

· Transformation occurs in the lives of those who are found to be in the presence of God.

How do we have God encounters in Our Life?

Matthew 7:7-

IV. CONCLUSION

Matthew 7:7–12 NIV

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

· I want to pray for us. In a moment I am going to pray that God will help us leave here committed to three things:

1. To come here next week with a focus on Him. I pray you will take time this week to pray for that focus. I pray that you will wake up a few minutes earlier and spend time asking God to prepare you for worship.

2. I hope you will take the time this week to think about the ways God has delivered you from the small things and the big things. Pray for His guidance in this.

3. Finally, Pray that you will leave here next week changed. That when you walk out this door you will feel what Isaiah felt when he said to God, “Here am I! Send me!”

· Pray

· Today I hope that you have felt the presence of the Lord in this place. As we sing this song. Maybe there is something on your heart you need to ask God’s help in changing. Maybe you have a desire inside of you so strong that it is calling in you to obey God’s will and become a child of God. If we can help you in any way I pray you will come as we stand and sing!

Related Media

Related Sermons