Relating Properly To God
Notes
Transcript
ILLUST: Describe spouse - How would you? Describe what he/she is really like
ILLUST: Describe spouse - How would you? Describe what he/she is really like
To Relate Properly to God is To....
To Relate Properly to God is To....
1) Know His Name
1) Know His Name
Recall Who He is - YHWH - Jehovah
All other names describe Him - Jireh, Sabaoth, El Elyon, etc.
How do you describe God? - Three “omnis” (omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient) - But is that who He really is?
Why did God need to tell His name?
Through Scripture, there are gods (created beings, spiritual beings, angels, demons, etc.)
God says “I’m YHWH, the Creator, no other gods, I am GOD”
Psalm 86 - none like YOU, Psalm 96 - Great is the Lord, feared above all gods, Psalm 97 - God is in His own category
To Moses, and to Us: Who/What He says He is, He is
His name is His promise!
HIS NAME: Introduction to reply to Moses’ request
The LORD, the LORD God - repeated for emphasis
Slow down, think about His name, in depth
2) See His Glory
2) See His Glory
Moses asks the most personal, intimate question - “Show me Your glory”
God prepares Moses
Cleft of rock - a place to be hidden, shielded
God’s Hand
Moses is changed - this is a “before and after” life-changing moment
His sole desire becomes to follow Him - the closer He is to God, the more he desires to be closer to God, he sees that all he does is for Him and His glory.
Moses desired, needed, to see God’s glory
Do we desire, need to see God’s glory?
The world needs to
Moses understands the miracles, God at work, BUT....he wants to be closer, changed, to see it all.
Explanation of Who He really is, accompanies His passing by Moses
To see Him in person
“God’s press conference to the world” - (JM Comer)
We cannot overstate, overestimate the importance of these verses
Longest and most complete description of God’s character to be fund in Scriptures
This is about the relational side of God
3) Be Like Christ
3) Be Like Christ
Spirit in you, dwells, abides, the spirit of Christ
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
Jesus Christ was the manifestation of the glory of God
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We cannot see the full glory of God as humans
Moses was shielded from it
Jesus coming in human form allowed His glory to be known, without seeing the fullness of all God’s glory -
But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
The church is to reflect God’s glory
Church = believers - Do we, as Christians, disciples, show Him to others?
How do we see, realize God’s glory here and now?
Miracles? Even Jesus miracles pointed to Him being God, for that purpose
His miracles happened b/c He is compassionate, merciful...
We see Him at work - His work points to God’s glory
Someone gets saved, believer responds to God’s prompting
Relationships with others show relationship with God
Hidden in Christ
Hidden from - God’s wrath
God looks at a believer and sees Christ - hidden
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
My sinful self is hidden, God sees Christ!
The only protection from God’s wrath is to be hidden in Christ
CLOSE/SUMMARY
CLOSE/SUMMARY
Moses has an encounter with God that changes his life forever - game changer! My game changer was when I bowed the knee to trust Jesus Christ as my personal Savior - and I pray that I get to know God more and more each day.
God’s name, and our relationship to Him, are crucial
Need to know God
God needs to be known through us
For US - “Return to the Lord”
Anyone can call upon the name of the Lord
We pray in the name of Jesus - this is a big deal
We are to be “godly
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
How do I have the same attitude that was also in Christ Jesus?
Be compassionate...
People not here need you to be....
Strained relationship? Let your attitude be in Christ
People who need Christ need you to be...
And…as Moses would see, and the people would see - they would need God’s strength, protection, compassion....
Moses would lead the people to follow, even if the outcome was unknown
US - Challenges are upon us, trials are here and more coming
Challenges do not mean:
God is gone or not active
You have sinned or turned away
Enemy wants to stop you from being saved or being “too serious”
Enemy wants to divide you
We are allowed choice, and consequences of those choices/actions
LET YOUR ATTITUDE BE IN CHRIST
It will be a challenge to remember what God says, to listen, to obey
God commands us to follow, through the trials and struggles
God commands us to follow, through the trials and struggles
Don’t be deceived into thinking/believing that the Christian life will be easy, or that it is supposed to be easy
“When we try to make Christianity more appealing, it is no longer appealing”
So, church, can people see God’s glory in us?
How close do you want to be to God? Close enough to be changed? Close enough to leave sin habits and old life behind, and start to trust and follow Christ?
Or to keep following when life and relationships are hard?
Challenge: How would our world, our family, our community, our church, change if believers actually became disciples and lived like this
compassionate...
How would others be affected if we really strove to be like God, if we would allow Him to change us?
The world wants our “stuff” - talents, money, etc.
The world NEEDS us to be compassionate....to be like Christ so they can see Him. Otherwise, they won’t.
Moses asked God to change Him, and He did
What about us, how close to God do you want to be? How much change will you let Him accomplish in you?
CLOSING CHALLENGE - At the end of the day, if you had to sign your name to a paper stating that you had lived the best, most surrendered, Christian life according to God’s will could you put your name on there?