Getting Closer to God - Subtitles in many languages - Click on

Today we're going to talk about the first simple thing everyone has to do if they desire to be Spiritually successful being a Christian is primarily about our relationship with God so today we're going to look at how to be closer to God please pull out your message outlines and follow along with me in your Bible or in the bulletin as I read first Timothy four verses 1-8 now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last time some will turn away from the true faith they will follow it deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons These people are hypocrites and liars and their consciences are dead they will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain food but God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth since everything God created is good we should not reject any of it but receive with thanks for we know it is made acceptable by the Word of God and prayer If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters Timothy you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus one who is nourished by the message of faith in the good teaching you have followed do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives tales instead train yourself to be godly physical training is good but training for godliness is much better promising benefits in this life and in the life to come 8 simple steps These steps are simple but they're not simplistic and today I want to help you take the first step which I believe is the fundamental step that we need to take as Christians and that is make a commitment to developing a more intimate relationship with God now intimacy is important isn't it? Many people have said that the quality of your life often is determined by the quality of your relationships and were all relational enough that we know that that's true Mark Waltz has written a book and in it it's on relationships, church relationships, relationships in the church and he talks about the different levels of the different concentric circles of our relationships that our our largest circle is our public relationship in you know that would be represented by all the people we run into at the store uh... then there is a a social level uh... it's not the store but it's some other setting maybe like SARC where we don't know all the names but we know the faces you know I don't know your name but I know what kind of tennis shoes you wear right then there is a closer relationship uh... which is our personal relationships and in those relationships we not only know the faces but we know the names, we know a little of the history maybe of those people we carried on some conversation with them about their life and we've revealed some things about our life the smaller circle but profoundly important is our intimate relationships and those are the relationships where well we know them and they know us They know us in our good times and they know us in our bad times they know our good side and well they've experienced us every once in awhile in and a bad mood Randy Freeze has written a book on small groups and in it he talks about intimate relationships in these terms you must have a few people in your life who have refrigerator privileges those are the people that you know well enough that when they come to your house you pretty much sat “hey look if it's in there you can eat it or you can drink it” You know “if you don't have what you want just tell me and I'll get you what you want” thats refrigerator privileges and when we give someone refrigerator privileges we know that well that's a close relationship isn't it? My simple thesis this morning is that if you want to be more successful in faith and in life there is a very high corollary to success in faith and life in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ the Bible points out that that intimacy is marked by a desire to grow and mature Listen to Colossians 4:12 Paul prays that you may become mature Christians and may fulfill God's will for you there is a maturity, a growth that that needs to happen in our life. and isn't it interesting the correlation he creates he's really, Paul is really saying “if you want to know the will of God then you've got to mature You've got to grow” and if you don't grow and you do not mature then that's going to have an impact on your ability to perceive and enjoy the will of God for your life so we have to ask the question, you know is that what we want? what does that look like? I think two things we want to draw close to God that's going to require some at action on our part We often think that somehow our relationship with God is all about good intentions and that's part of it but there's a greater element and that is our action I'd simply ask you, “how close are how distant do you feel from God today?” some of you very honestly feel far away because you've been far away and I hope today that you feel the ability to draw closer to God today to make some decisive action in his direction what I find interesting is that there's some people who have been around the church for a long time And they still feel fairly distant from God God's desire is that we would have a close relationship with him and that close relationship is not about how we feel necessarily but about our decisive action and Paul uses the word “training” that we need to go into training we need to have a training program that will move us along in the growth and maturity that God desires for us. It's our Scripture passage for this morning do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives tales instead train yourself to be godly physical training is good. Notice he says it's good, but training for godliness is much better promising benefits not only in this life but in the life to come and physical training is only really good for this life When you die and go to heaven and you're going to get a heavenly body. The older I get I always say thank God because I'm not sure I want to take this one with me for all eternity Our relationship with God is very present but it's also for all eternity and so we need to really see the essential place that developing of closeness with God has in store for each one of us That close relationship with God is not about becoming more religious Listen to what Paul talks about in Acts 17 this is when Paul goes to Athens and he's up on the Acropolis and he's at the place of teaching where all the scholars and philosophers went to teach all the people, in fact as a family we stood in that very spot when we were in Greece interestingly enough someone was doing a Bible study on this passage as we walked up to that that particular spot Paul stood there and he makes a statement, he says I can see that in a everyway you're very religious I look carefully at the objects of your worship And I even found an altar with this inscription “to an unknown God” they just wanted to cover all their bases and that's the way that they were, very poly Theistic and the way that they worshipped, he says now what I want you to know what you worship is something unknown I am going to proclaim to you And what Paul simply says, you're trying to identify a close relationship with God, I'm going to tell you how to have a close relationship with God, what you don't know I want you to understand and for this morning what I want us to understand is that more religion, more “beads, bells and smells” You have to be kind of a former Catholic like me or Episcopalian or Anglican to understand that fully but what I've tried to say is more ritual, although ritual maybe good, don't misunderstand me it has its place but more ritual more religion, that is not going to mean get you closer to God because simply Christianity is not a religion it is a relationship with Jesus Christ and more ritual is not necessarily going to create a greater intimacy with Jesus Christ the other thing I'd like to point out is the truth that yes it is a little easier to feel intimate with God when everything is going well, and it is a little harder to feel intimacy with God when things are difficult or hard and I think the foundation of that feeling comes from the reality that we think somehow we can all only communicate with God we can all only be in relationship with God when we're good and things are good when we're good and when things are good but yet we hear over and over again and read over and over again in the Bible that that's really not true that God does want to hear from us even when we've been bad even when things are difficult or challenging or painful in our life God is very interested very interested in that I found the words of Job on this subject very insightful Listen to what he says but he God knows where I am going and when he tests me I will come out as pure as gold For I have stayed on God's path I have followed his ways and not turned aside I have not departed from his commandments now what Job is saying is that I know if I continue on the right path as I continue to follow God's commands as I continue to seek to have a close relationship with him I know one thing and one thing that's true God is not going to waste this difficult experience that I'm having Here Job is convinced kind of like a refining fire that he'll come out as pure gold and the truth is most of us grow better more profoundly through difficult times than we do through good times how many agree with that? probably every hand would go up We grow more through difficulty than we do through pleasure and Job understands that Job understands that this difficulty that he's experiencing, God is not going to waste he's going to use it for good in my life, but what is the corollary The training God can only bring out the good that he wants to bring out through the pain and the challenge in the difficulty of life if we don't depart from him Have you noticed when things are bad in your life, you have a tendency to revert back to unproductive unhealthy things in your life if you're a person of addiction that's clearly what you do and we might not be addicted but we've got a habit or two and have you noticed that when things are painful or things are difficult in life you have a tendency to revert back to that unhealthy attitude or behavior and part of what Job is saying is you know I'm not going to go drink I'm not going to go do this, I'm not going to have this kind of a bad attitude I'm not going to go and pout What I'm going to do is be the person that God wants me to be I'm going to follow his commandments even though they're not easy to follow At this point in my life in fact things are bad enough, you know, I'm questioning how the whole thing works and sometimes we do question how how the whole thing with God even works that's why training is important what kind of training what kind of practical training is Paul talking about? and I could make a long list, in fact everything that I'm going to talk about in this series of messages really is a part of the training program but I thought I'd summarize it this way this morning a little phrase that I use every once in awhile and that simply is “worship plus two” if you want to develop a close relationship with God there's three things you need to do Number one you need to go to worship because I think something happens and worship, corporate worship, it doesn't happen when we're all by ourselves, so I don't know about you but the choral singing is not nearly as good when I'm alone in the shower I mean I don't know about you but there is something inspiring to me something moves in my heart, in my soul, when the choir sings I'm an extrovert so I don't like to be alone very often only when I'm sick usually so something good happens when I'm hanging around other Christians sharing the experience and so I think worship needs to become a priority in life now I know I literally am preaching to the choir here because you're here today So good for you, you're one-third of the way there for sure what's the plus two? two other things. One is is, I think you need to be in an educational venue, you need to be a Bible study you need to get in a small group, you need to get in a Bible study, you need to have Bible study on your own everyday if you don't know how to study the Bible give me a call, I'll send you how to study the Bible and some material to study and simply, if you don't study God, you'll never know God Here, I'll give you an illustration Christmas is just past, right? and you either did well in gift-giving or you did poor in gift-giving and they just didn't tell you because they're nice you did well in give the gift giving if you gave a gift that both expressed your love for that person and it's the kind of gift that they wanted it's interesting how we have a tendency to give gifts to someone that are their version of what we really want you know, right? have you ever noticed that? you know, we like to read and we think they like to read so we buy them a book that well, since they are interested in this Sewing or sports we buy them a sewing book Or a sports book thinking that somehow that's the right present when in fact well that's maybe not their favorite thing to do another classic example is you know men like toys and power tools and things like that so we often buy big appliances for our spouses I tried it that one went to Macy's and said I want to buy a Cuisinart and she put up this little teeny Cuisinart and I said no you know understand I really love my wife her eyes got real big in she says you mean you want to look at the “Pro nine thousand?” I said yes I do, bring that badboy out here She laid that out on the counter.. that was true love! I said I'll take that one, wrap it up Right? and the other proof is women like perfume so men have all sorts of cologne they never wear How do you know the right gift to give? You know the right gift because you study the other person listen to what the other person says you know that person so you know the kind of gift to give them that really showed your love, I think the same thing is true about God we don't have an intimate relationship with God because we don't really know him we think he's way up there and infinite so I can't really know him No, I don't think that's true at all We can't know everything about God, but trust me I'm a man I'm still trying to figure out women You can't understand everything about another human being but that doesn't mean there's not a lot you can understand so you need to be in a Bible study. The third thing is if you need to find a place of service in the church your service may not be IN the church because the church, isn't just a four walls, I'm not saying that you know you might end up doing something out in the community or even on the other side of the world because of what God wants you do in terms of service but we all need to find our place and the reason we need that is if we want to develop We've got to have some outflow as well as Inflow. what happens if everything just flows in and nothing flows out? you become like the dead sea. that's the definition of the dead sea, I've been there water flows into that, but no water flows out of it so it's a dead sea literally nothing lives in there No fish in the dead sea that's what will happen to you you have a intrinsic uh... understanding of this you know that you've got to utilize what's inside of you and everything in the church is important You're a ten you know you're great at something that's going on and we want to help you discover that and put you to work. Somebody said oh you only say that, once they said this, you only say that because that makes your job easier it doesn't make my job easier and I'll tell you why when everybody gets to work at the church you know what happens to the church? it grows it grows in fact I think... in this day and age the growth of the church is often determined really by two simple things your desire to invite somebody that doesn't go to church, linking is what we call it around here and then you're willing to serve and when those two things are together the church can't help but grow. And the bigger the church gets, trust me it's a little more complex But I embrace and enjoy that kind of work I'll take as much of that kind of work that can come my way, that's what winds my watch About being a pastor watching it all develop helping it all to develop I want you to develop in your intimacy with Jesus Christ And your simple training program is worship Bible study service Now one more thing this morning and that thing it is that if we want to be closer with God that'll be reflected in the wisdom in the wisdom that we need is to realize that developing a relationship with God like with anyone else is not, is not instant not automatic now I understand that there are those people that experience love at first sight but even love at the first site doesn't define an intimate relationship mabye hormones but not you know attraction that you know, that chemistry but not intimacy and that's true in our relationship with with Jesus Christ as well there may be great chemistry but we've got… we've got to develop that and that's not going to happen instantaneously it's not going to happen automatically it's going to take some intentionality on our part that intentionality is one time 1 Peter 3:16 Continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ, notice what he says, continue to grow it's going to take time now you think going to seminary and going to seminary some more would be enough time but interestingly enough just because I've gone to seminary and then more seminary there's still plenty to know about God there's lots of growth and maturity to take place and if you're going to come to worship, if you're going to have a Bible study or be in a Bible study if you're going to serve then that's going to take some time, it's got a show up on your calendar and if it's not Automatic and its not instant that makes sense that it's a process and we're going to have to put some time in it. second thing is true that it's it's not only time but it's intimacy that is developed by our openness or vulnerability here's a great description of intimacy and the man the woman were both naked and we're not ashamed it's interesting to kind of take the emotional idea that and say wow can I go to God and can I be so emotionally honest vulnerable, naked before God and feel good about it well I don't know about you but I don't know, sometimes I feel bad enough I'm ashamed I know I haven't done right, said what's right had the right attitude I anyone is supposed to know better I should Shouldn't I? It is great to realize that God loves me in spite of where I fall and fail and fumble and there is a depth of a relationship that happens between us and God when we can be that open and that honest that vulnerable with him because that happens in intimate relationships human relationships too..Right? true the real intimacy happens when we don't have our best foot forward when we haven't shaved or we don't have our makeup on and that's very similar in terms of our relationship with God our relationship with God deepens particularly when we're not at our best. Spiritually or practically the reason for that is that the wisdom is tied to God's maturing of us, our growth process is primarily about character development God wants to develop you on the inside because if the inside develops and all the rest of it takes care of itself, it's a little bit like a person with a positive attitude in general, things go better because you have a positive attitude If you have a sour attitude watch out Because you're in for a bad day and you're going to give everybody around you a bad day it is about character development in our life it is not just about mere knowledge gaining mere knowledge and it is not about just honing our skills now more knowledge in better skills is helpful but we need to realize that in a relationship with Jesus Christ more knowledge and more skill, those are vehicles they are means to an end not an end in themselves and learned that when I was in seminary I ran into people who are really really smart they knew more about the Bible theology in original languages than I did, than most people did but I ran into people that I wasn't too sure about where their intimacy with Jesus Christ was and the reason for that had to do with their character they thought being smart meant that they were a good Christian because they were very capable that meant that they were they were growing and maturing in Jesus Christ and that's not necessarily true they are not an end in themselves they are vehicle only a vehicle, only means by which we grow and mature and develop in intimacy with God but they are not the intimacy, the foundation of the intimacy of our relationship with God to me, the crucible of our intimacy with God and our understanding that faith development is not instant or automatic is the crucible of the conflict of our will and God's will Our will and God's will because I know unlike Job when there's a conflict between what we want to do and what God wants us to do we often shun the commandments and instruction of God and we get off of his path and very much on to our own path and I'm more convinced of that in this day and age than ever because the culture has changed and not for the better in some way and so every day we have to choose, am I going to do what God wants me to do, or do what feels good to me or what I think is right in my own mind If we want to have an intimacy with God then that is about yielding or surrendering to God's will in my life even if I don't like it even if it's not easy even if it's not convenient even if it's not comfortable if we want to have an intimate relationship with God we've got to move forward in our relationship with him Listen to what Chuck Swindoll says he says the training now we're going back to the first point the training we need is that which corrects molds and perfects our moral character that moral character is forged in the crucible of the conflict of our will and God's will listen what Paul says in Philippians he says I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead I'd ask you that question Do you want to experience the power, the mighty power of God that resurrected Jesus from the dead? if you do you'll come to realize that that power is released through an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ It's released in our life when we aather in a spiritual training program because that positions us to know God it positions us to receive God's blessings the first simple step is a commitment to develop a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and making that commitment means you're saying yes what what Paul states, yes I do want to know that power I do know I do want to know God's love I do want to know God's plan in God's purpose for my life because once we say yes to him our life can't help but the more successful more fulfilling Let's pray Lord you know where we find it easy to affirm your will and your way in our life and Lord you know what the challenges that's before us Lord you know that our intentions are good and help us to make good on our intentions today is going to take some time we'll have to make worship and Bible study and service a priority Lord we're We're thankful that you're developing us from the inside out and Lord you know where where our character could use a little shoring up further development Lord we know that all happens through our yielding and surrender the Holy Spirit Lord that happens because we make a conscious commitment Lord to develop our faith, to grow and to mature and thereby strengthen a greater intimacy with your Lord, that's our prayer today and so we pray your name, Amen Translate this message into another language. 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