okay....all kinds of stuff is stirring in my heart to say.
I am thinking about the awesomeness of God. You know that David Crowder song. It just keeps going thru my head. The part that says......
Unchangeable
Unshakeable
Unstoppable….that’s who He is….
So I'm thinking do I know Him? Do you know Him?
Paul said “That I may know Him , and the power of his resurrection….Phil. 3:10
That’s one of my favorite verses. Did you catch that? That I may know Him. What does that mean? What was He saying?
Have any of ya’ll ever watched the TV show “Biography” on A&E? I always see it late at nite around 11:00pm. Well it’s a show about people, usually famous ones. And it just tells things about their lives and a lot of things that in general you probably didn’t know about them.
Anyway the whole show is written and produced by people that knew all about them or found relatives or friends that knew them and they gather all this information and pictures about them and put together this hour long show that is usually very interesting. When it’s over you feel like you may kinda understand that person a little better.
That’s what a Biography is……it’s different people or a person that writes things about another person’s life.
The other way of reading about someone is if they have written their own….Autobiography. That mean’s they wrote it themselves.
The bible is an autobiography. That’s why we say “God’s word says”. Because literally God wrote it Himself. Now God used other men to write it thru but the Bible is actually the inspired word of God. The word itself proves itself over and over again.
So since we are talking about wanting to know God. I want to just read you somethings that God say’s about Himself in His own autobiography.
And God said- “I Am that I Am” Ex. 3:14
“ I Am the Lord thy God….thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Ex. 20: 2-3
“ I Am the Lord in the Midst of the Earth” Ex 8:22
….”I Am the Lord which sanctify you” Lev. 20: 8
“For the beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.” Ps. 50:10
“For the Earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” 1 Cor. 10:26
“Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and measured out heaven with the span?” Is. 40: 12
“Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor hath taught Him?” Is. 40: 13
“To whom then will you liken to God?” Is. 40: 18
God is awesome! And the God of the Universe desires to have a relationship with me and you….and to me that’s even more awesome.
Whenever I think about a relationship I think about a friend, and my bestfriends expect me to be honest with them and to be real. … The me without make up…
The me that has good qualities as well as bad and to let them see both…unashamed.
Because there’s no fear that they are going to pull back or push me away when they see the not so pretty parts of who I am.
And they want depth in our relationship.
At some point there has to be more to talk about then what I’m wearing tomorrow or gonna cook for supper tonight. We have to begin to share with each other who we really are and what we really think.
And then there’s Loyalty….knowing that I can call anytime and that I’m not in the way…..
God desires all these same things.
Honesty, authenticity, and depth.
He even say’s in James 4:8 “Draw close to me and I’ll draw close to you.”
Listen to what the word says in Psalms 103:7
He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Isreal.
Ex. 19:16-19
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that [was] in the camp trembled.
And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
If you were those were those Israelites what would you be thinking?
……He made known His ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Isreal.
It’s kinda like this: You can have a store manager that is in on the bosses decisions and then there are employees that just get the memo or email telling them what the new rules are. There’s a difference. The manager and owner know each other. The employees only know the final outcome of the decisions that are made.
You have to be in good with the boss to be in on those private conversations. You have to be someone he trust and can talk to, to be that person that knows Him.
In those verses what did the fire represent?
Unlike fire in the natural realm, the fire of the Holy Spirit cannot be contained.
As the "pillar" of fire God illuminated their path in the wilderness so they would know where to go and be protected.
But ….As the "consuming" fire God proclaims His sovereignty, His wrath and His omnipotence.
What is sovereignty? it's possessing the highest power there is.
What is wrath? it's the effects of anger. it's the deserved punishment of an offense.
What is omnipotence? it is having unlimited & infinate power.
When we say “God Almighty” that is what we are acknowledging. He is the only One with unlimited and un-use-upable power. He never runs out.
If we do not know Him. We will fear the consuming fire.
And more than anything in this whole world we need the consuming fire. That's what burns up what is not like Him in us. Any attribute in our lives that is not like Him.
We were made in His image --that’s the outer parts of us, the exterior.
What we want, is to grow up in His likeness. That’s the inside----who we really are.
You know what Christian matureity is? It's having the right response to the dealings of God. Whatever situation we are in...He knows about it. He even designs. Because whichever fork in the road we take He is going to get mileage out of it, in our life. He will use it to make us more like Him.
How do I know?
because:
2Tim.1:12 For this cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
He can keep us in every situation and bring us back to Him. Every fork in the road leads to a U-turn to Him.
okay --getting back to knowing God...knowing Him as the consuming fire.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:
What did Paul say? That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.
If there is to be a resurrection in each one of our lives there is someone who has to die....Jesus has already died to make it possible for us to enter our mothers womb again. This is how we are going to be "born again" Our flesh, the part of us that does not want to cooperate with anything that has to do with Jesus has got to be consumed. But if we will let Him....He will make us into his likeness. Gold. Tried in the fire.
Go to:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
God is telling us to buy gold from Him.
Did you ever wonder what you can buy it with?
What currency does God use? American dollars?
Mexican Pesos?
German Marks?
You buy it with your flesh.
What do ya'll think sucess is?
Is it growing up and becoming someone? ie. a teacher, or a lawyer, or a computer programmer or whatever.
Is it being able to buy a house and go to church and have a family?
Do you know what happiness is?
It's being free to follow the Spirit of God.
If He says He wants you to spend your life teaching ....great or if
He says He wants you to marry this Guy that He has been preparing for you and have babies and be a wife and mother....great.
But how are you going to know what He says????
We are going to have to know Him. Really know Him.
Remember when Jesus said in:
John 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
or what about this....wouldn't it be cool if we could not only hear what He says to us but see it too.
John 5:19 says… Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
The Holy Spirit so wants to tell us....but we have to get to know Him. If we want to know intimate things, confidential things, things that are coming up and to be ready for them….
The whole thing boils down to, He wants to change us and make us like Him. And we see Him coming to us in His word as a fire or water or wind or dew or a cloud or a potter. But the choice is up to us each time.
If we only have Him standing in the foyer of our house like a magazine salesman. We are not going to get to know Him. But if we have come to that place where we have said "me casa is su casa" then we have given him permission to treat our house like he owns it. So as we spend time with Him in all the rooms of our house as He decides to move the furniture around or get rid of something and get new, we let him. And pretty soon we start the process of making Him Lord of All. And along the way we become very intimate friends. And eventually His Bride.
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