Seeking God
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Announcements
Collection
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Our sermon will be on Luke 12:22-34
We have a website: https://tahlequahworshipcenter.com/
Saturday Oct. 30th is the Harvest Party - 5:00 pm
Get Together at Jim & Barbara’s house
Prayer requests:
Sue
Georgey
Billy and his Dad
Dorcas
Mark Wilson
Songs
Consider The Lilies
Jesus Is Coming Soon
For The Good
Seeking God
Seeking God
In my lifetime I’ve done a lot of shooting. I’ve shot a bow, shotgun, muzzleloader, pistol, and a rifle.
I’ve shot many different types of those as well.
If you go hunting, you need to make sure you will be able to hit what you are aiming at.
What do you do? You practice.
There is no way that I could count the number of rounds that I have shot over the years.
For each weapon, you do different things to help ensure you hit the target.
Some of them are the same.
Christian and I went bow hunting this weekend.
Archery may be one of hardest, partly because there are so many things that can go wrong.
I started out shooting a compound, but I switched to a recurve eventually.
There are so many things that could go wrong with a compound.
I was always tweaking something. I guess I got tired of it.
That makes it harder. With a compound, I could group my arrows together at 60 yards.
With a recurve, that’s about 20 yards.
That means you have to get closer to the target.
It’s not easy to get within 20 yards of a deer.
They can see us move, they can hear us, they can smell us.
Friday, when Christian and I went hunting, we got about 20 yards apart.
Deer came in behind Christian and he didn’t see them.
I texted him to tell him they were behind him, but he didn’t get the text until it was too late.
Instead of looking at my text, he reached down to pick up an acorn.
In order to get a deer, you need to do the following:
Keep from being seen
Keep from being heard
Keep from being smelled
Practice with your bow
Now, what if we are seeking God?
That’s what we are going to talk about today
22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.
23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.
30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.
31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.
34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Review of Don’t Worry
Review of Don’t Worry
We covered the Matthew account of this a few months ago, but I wanted to approach it different today.
I ended then by saying Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
This time we are starting with that thought and we are talk about how to seek first God’s kingdom.
Don’t Worry about Money
Don’t Worry about Myself
Don’t Worry about My Future
We don’t worry because if we seek the kingdom of God first, then all these things will be added to us.
So the question is: How do we seek God.
Seeking God through Prayer
Seeking God through Prayer
Not in this passage, but in the similar passage in Matthew 6:9-15 , Jesus precedes this idea with teaching his disciples how to pray.
He starts that off by saying in Matthew 6:6-8
6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
and God tells Jeremiah in Jeremiah 33:3
3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
and let us not forget that God not only listens, but he also answers
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
Seeking God through Prayer
How many times did God answer the prayer of David.
The psalms of David are filled with the prayers of David and others.
God hears our prayer and he answers.
Seeking God through the Bible
Seeking God through the Bible
Jesus tells us in John 5:39
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
We forget that the scripture is the story of how God loves and takes care of his people.
All throughout scripture we see God rescuing his people.
We see how important his Word is.
Psalm 119 is all about the importance of the Word of God.
9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Seeking God through the Bible
We pour out our hearts before God with our prayers and God speaks back to us through his Word
Jesus is even called the Word in John 1:1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Seeking God through the Bible
The word translated as Word here means “the act of speaking and the thing spoken”
If you want to seek God, you can’t to it without the Word
Finally, don’t forget 2 Timothy 2:15
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Seeking God through Worship
Seeking God through Worship
Before I continue, let me define the word Worship.
The word itself in english means the act of declaring God Worthy.
In our vernacular, it usually is talking about singing.
There is something special about music and its relationship with things spiritual.
Music touches our soul.
The entire book of Psalms is devoted to the idea of worshipping God.
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
Seeking God through Worship
When we come together with one another, we experience something that we can’t experience apart.
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
We need to seek God through relationship with one another.
Seeking God through Repentance
Seeking God through Repentance
I want to be absolutely clear here: we must ask for forgiveness.
Paul tells us in Romans 3:23
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sin separates us from God.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Seeking God through Repentance
You might say, well God was speaking to the Children of Israel there.
That’s true, but he’s also talking to us.
I want you to think about something for a minute.
If you are upset at someone, does that affect your relationship with them.
Even if it’s something we did.
Now, if you have faith, God has forgiven us. Colossians 2:13-14
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Seeking God through Repentance
That means, if we believe like Jesus said in John 3:16, we are forgiven, but when we sin we put something between us and God.
We should be continually repenting of what we do because we are always doing something wrong.
Jesus’ first message was “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
If you are seeking God, then repent.
The Bottom line is:
Repent, pray, worship and read the Bible.
Seek him and you will find him.