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“I am ready to burn out for God. I am ready to endure any hardship, if by any means I might save some. The longing of my heart is to make known my glorious Redeemer to those who have never heard.” William Burns
what will you give?
what will you do?
God has called each one of us to be ambassadors and witnesses – to shine His light into the world so that people will see God in the darkness. it is God who saves and draws people to Himself but He demonstrates His love and grace and lives out salvation in us.
God has qualified and empowered each one of us to do this momentous task. It should be done every day in every converstation in every opportunity. Its not something we turn off or turn on. We ARE witnesses. We ARE the light of the world, unhidden and shinning bright.
we may feel insignificant and unqualified – but remember – We are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored. The real power comes from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 – the real power comes from God – we are the vessel and God is the light that shines – we are the life that expresses the power of God and message of God – as we humble ourselves and draw near to God and pray THEN we are usable. God delights to use His children to reach the lost. As we step out in faith His power enables us and gives us the right words.
Be used. Make the choice. Be close and in love with God, know Him and make Him known!
“Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God’s delight in being God.” John Piper
“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“There are people on this planet whom only you will be able to reach, because of where you live and what God has made you to be. If just one person will be in heaven because of you, your life will have made a difference for eternity” Rick Warren
Always Remember, when God made you, He did so with a purpose and a plan.
He saw all of your days before you lived one of them and placed over you the covering of His protective love. He has allowed nothing to come into your life that has not first been screened through that love. His hand has remained upon you to this very day. He calls you by name. You are His beloved child…the apple of His eye… the delight of His heart.
Today you are in the exact place He wants you to be, and tomorrow He will be with you as He has always been – in goodness, in kindness, in faithfulness.
MESSAGE on topic WHO IS GOD – for Sunday 8th November 09 young adults service:
Encounter with God
- we are hungry for encounter!
- Encounter is possible!
- From the very beginning God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve and at the end of this world as we know it we again will worship Him face to face.
- As Christians its not about coming to church or being a nice person its about knowing God and making Him known, its about encountering Him and walking with Him, about hearing His voice and being in relationship.
One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4
ONE THING do I seek, one thing do I ask, one thing do I make a priority, one thing do I live for – to dwell in the house of God, to see Him, to seek Him, to know Him, to encounter Him.
The privilege of living in our days is that we can encounter God – Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” As Christians we have access to the very Holy of Holies – the place where God dwelled. In the OT only the most high priest could go in there and even then it was on special days and after rituals and cleansings. He used to have a rope tied around his foot so that if he DIED in there they could drag him out…. Serious! If we are born again children of God – real Christians – then there is no barrier between God and us, the separation is gone, the veil was torn from top to bottom by God, at the death of Jesus Christ signifying that we now may enter and encounter Him!
I’d like you to turn to Exodus 3 and we’ll read about an encounter Moses had with God, his first encounter really and how that changed his life and shows us how we too can know God.
I’d like to encourage you to read along with me as I read from Exodus 3, I know we have different versions, but if you can multi task and listen and read at the same time, go for it, because each version has different flavours and levels and will speak to us differently…
Exodus 3….
One day, Moses was taking care of the sheep and goats of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and Moses decided to lead them across the desert to Sinai, the holy mountain. 2There an angel of the LORD appeared to him from a burning bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but it was not burning up. 3” This is strange!” he said to himself. ” I’ll go over and see why the bush isn’t burning up.” 4When the LORD saw Moses coming near the bush, he called him by name, and Moses answered, ” Here I am.”
5God replied, ” Don’t come any closer. Take off your sandals–the ground where you are standing is holy. 6I am the God who was worshiped by your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Moses was afraid to look at God, and so he hid his face.
Lets hit pause here for a bit….
So this is the first encounter Moses has with God.
To give you a back story, Moses was born in a time of great persecution for the Hebrew people. They had settled in Egypt in the time of famine, in a way rescued by Joseph who was PM at the time. Go have a read in the last chapters of Genesis to read his amazing story. As a people group they grew in strength and numbers and intimidated the Egyptians who then enslaved them and persecuted them. At the time of Moses birth the Pharaoh made a decision to wipe out a generation of children – all male children born were to be killed at birth. Coincidence? Nope. Moses’ mother hid him for three months and then set him in a basket, setting him adrift on the Nile, trusting God to care for her son…. Who was found by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised as a prince and leader in the palace. He then discovered his true heritage and got himself in trouble and so he fled Egypt and met Zipporah and married her… becoming a shepherd in the Midian Desert.
So on this day, he’s out having an ordinary day. He is in the wop wops, minding his own business, an ordinary life, and ordinary job.
And he sees a bush, burning but not burning.
And so he goes to investigate.
And God speaks. And Moses freaks.
And he hides his face, afraid.
You see, we don’t approach God on our own terms. He isn’t impressed with our qualifications and our good qualities and our girl scout badges.
He is HOLY. HOLY. Almighty. Powerful. The creator of the universe. He breathed the stars out.
BREATHER: caleb asked me does God breathe….?
I remember when I became a Christian – I got saved in 1993, in a shearing shed near Blenheim. I was 16. That afternoon we were told to go and pray and seek God. To encounter Him. I had only just discovered He was real – when at a youth group housegroup type meeting someone had prayed and God had opened my eyes and gone “hello!” I sat under a big tree, cried and made a lot of snot and totally acknowledged that I was not good enough to get to heaven on my own merits – that God was holy and I was not. I was afraid and wanted to hide my face – but I wanted to know this very real God who might have made a way even more.
God has made a way.
Faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross to pay for our sins and wrongdoings, who makes us new and clean and transforms us from sinners into family. Jesus is the only way to heaven, the only way to God. There is no other way.
God is real. He has made a way. You cant make up your own way.
If you want to encounter God, seek Him, repent, ask for forgiveness, have faith in Jesus, ask Him to wash you and make you new, live holy, pray and walk with Him every day.
Lets read on in Exodus 3:
And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you.
How many of us respond to the call of God like Moses? WHO AM I?
When God called Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1 he said the exact same thing WHO AM I? I am too young.
When God called Abraham and told him he was going to be father of nations Abraham said the samish thing WHO AM I? I am too old.
Who am I? That’s not really the question.
God’s answer, to all 3 of the who am I’s above… I AM GOD I AM WITH YOU.
Who knows that God plus one equals a majority. Equals you can do it. Equals success. Equals it will work.
God dares us – sometimes He dares us the most impossible things – but with Him, all things are possible. God + 1 is all you need!
When God calls He qualifies, He empowers, He equips.
God dares and He enables!
Don’t look at who you are but at the GOD who is calling you.
Don’t be intimidated by the task ahead but have faith in Almighty God!
God’s promise is I AM WITH YOU!
BREATHER/ILLUSTRATION: The Ultimate Gift production – my greatest fear – singing in public….
God said to Moses:
I am the eternal God. So tell them that the LORD, whose name is ” I Am,” has sent you. This is my name forever, and it is the name that people must use from now on. 16Call together the leaders of Israel and tell them that the God who was worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to you.
I love this passage. I love how God reveals His name to Moses.
I AM WHO I AM.
I AM WHO I WILL BE.
I AM.
Oooh such power and significance and gloriousness in that!
God is who He will be.
He is who He is.
And we can expect Him to be who He says and who He is.
We can expect Him to act how He says and how He is.
We can TRUST Him to be who He reveals Himself to be.
Lets break down those omnis….
1. God is omnipotent . He’s got the power to do whatever He wants. Revelation 19.6 Ephesians 1:11 Isaiah 14:24-27
2. God is omniscient (knows everything). Psalm 147.5. 1 John 3.20
3. God is omnipresent. (Psalm 139.7-12; Jeremiah 23.24) He fills heaven and earth and there is no place where He is not there, watching. Not only that, but as Creator God also stands outside the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1.1) He is not, as the doctrine of Pantheism says, simply “everything that is”.
4. God is eternal, before all things (Colossians 1.17), and without end (Psalm 102.27) (Psalm 90:1-2)
5. God never changes. (Malachi 3.6; Hebrews 13.8)
I AM. I AM WHO I AM. The holy glorious eternal wise mighty creative one… the one who breathed out the stars, who created and designed the zebra, totara tree, the kumera, the komodo dragon, the flying fish, mt everest, volcanoes, glaciers, oceans… who knows the path of lightening, who sees all and knows all, who knows the number of hairs on your head…
The I AM.
I AM is the special name of God. It is a great revelation.
When you get a clear understanding of who God is you draw nearer in faith. You take Him at His Word. You know His promises. You know His heart.
You know something else awesome… The holy eternal glorious creator of the universe I AM is the one who made the way for us, little old me and you, to come near to Himself.
The creator of the universe DESIRES encounter with us.
So much so that Jesus Christ, who IS GOD the I AM – read John 8:58 and John 18:5 – died on the cross to make peace by sacrificing his blood on the cross, so that all we would be brought back to God. We used to be far from God. Our thoughts made us His enemies, and we did evil things. But His Son became a human and died. So God made peace with us, and now He lets us stand in His presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. Colossians 1:19-22
God is a God of encounter. Of redemption. Of relationship.
He is close and personal, not far off and indifferent.
Find out for yourself how good and glorious God is. Get an accurate understanding of His heart – read your Bible.
God has opened the way – He tore the veil – He made us family – for one reason and one reason only – so we will know Him. In this life and for all eternity.
If you are hungry to encounter God – JUST DO IT!
The Bible promises that if you draw near to God, He will draw near to you.
Tonight we’re going to have some worship. Worship is a time to encounter God. And it can happen not just here at church. I had just become a Christian and someone gave me a tape and I put it on and the presence of God flooded my bedroom to tangibly. I encountered God. I still encounter God when I make that time and worship Him.
Tonight we’re going to worship God, we’re going to encounter God.
You may never have encountered God before. This might be your first time here at church. You might be just trying to figure out who God is and if He is even real and if He is what the next step is.
Tonight you can meet Him and come before Him. Tonight you can know His love and grace and be made new and forgiven.
Don’t try and do it your way – Jesus has made the one and only way to God and you cant get to Him any other route.
If you are not a Christian and want to, then my challenge to you is when the worship starts to come right up the front here, so that we can come and pray with you and help you to encounter our awesome God.
Most of you here are Christians though. You may be relating to what Moses said though, Who am I God? Why have you called me? I’m just me.
Tonight God wants to remind you that HE is God and that He is with you and that when He calls he equips and empowers and He wants you to encounter Him afresh and be inspired and refreshed.
You may not know what God has called you to do and be. If you want to hear from God about what He is calling you to do then I want you also to come right up the front here so we know you want prayer.
Tonight’s worship is a time to encounter God. Seek Him. Don’t be passive. Moses saw the burning bush and He went to see what was going on. He walked over to the bush. He moved and did something. He didn’t passively sit on the sideline waiting for the bush to get up and walk over to him. He didn’t passively sit there doing nothing. You got to seek! You got to connect! You got to draw near!
This is your time to encounter God. Don’t worry about what the person beside you is doing or not doing. He loves YOU. Jesus died on the cross for YOU. God wants YOU to know Him.
Tonight if you want to respond, if you want prayer, if you want to encounter God, then come right up the frontish here meet with God.
Lets stand and pray:
who said….
A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy!
i had to google it. a friend was asking on facebook this morning.
but it sparked something in me…
what is the dangerous disease our world faces today? seperation from God, sin, lostness…
what was the remedy for our sin? the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Son of God, upon the brutal cross in crucifixion.
and what is our response to this… that we should lay own lives down, that we should live our lives radically for the Gospel of Good News, that we should be ambassadors of reconcilliation, witnesses to this generation of the great love of God!
we overcome by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony and that we love our lives not… revelation 11:12
our lives are not our own. we were brought with a price. the blood of the sinless perfect amazing Jesus who gave His life to pay for my sin.
we should live our lives by faith in Jesus, following His call, following His purpose and plan.
not dangerously for the sake of danger, but unrelentless and poured out.
dont be conformed to the pattern of this world, complacent, quiet, tolerant… but lets stand and shine and declare the grace of God, lets demonstrate His kindness and love.
a desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy – God has done it all, He made the way, He made the way for redemption and cure. the cure is found – lets tell the good news!
i’m a big believer that God gives us dreams for our lives, of things we can do that will bring him glory. and just to right off the bat say it doesnt need to be dreams that fall into secular or spiro catergories. God gives people unique tailor made dreams and that is awesome!
I believe that our own lives are the starting point, the springboard for dreams.
As dreamers, we need to put our dreams into the realm of reality.
Dream fulfilling begins today with fostering a right attitude and heart towards ministry. It begins with equipping ourselves with skills to do what God has called us to do. It begins by praying and seeking God for wisdom, his heart for the lost and the people of God. It begins by being challenged to pursue God, to live a right clean life and to be sharpened by like minded people (iron sharpens iron). It begins with small opportunities – baby steps.
As we take steps to walk into our dreams (in particular a dream of preaching for me!) we need to remember:
- It’s all about JESUS
- Lifetime of preparation
- Preaching (and leadership) is 1% of a life time of service
- Preaching – and all ministry – is in context of ministry and service
- God has the keys to open any doors
- Preparation for ministry is long term – no short cuts
- The Word of God is the Message – must rightly divide it
- Life is lived in the secret place – your own private devotions and relationship with God and obedience does matter!!!
Be ready at all times – you never know what is around the corner!
In all you do be a demonstration of the grace and love of God.
It’s okay to dream (but understand preaching and ministry and leadership is not by right nor might! But by the anointing and calling and appointing of God – in his time! No certificate will give access to the pulpit!)
What is your dream?
How can you see that being outworked in your own life?
Can you see steps to take to live it out?
It’s not about “making it happen” or being the master of your own destiny – it is about living your life in the context of your dreams and passion, not just dreaming it or wishing it. Its about living a life of surrender to God and His process and His transformation and His preparation. Its most important to live following Jesus not just following a dream or ambition.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the Good Shepherd of our souls. He is the One seated at the right hand of Almighty God, ruling and reigning. Take up your cross and follow Him. Lay down your life.
kindle a fire in me o my Lord God for your presence and your purposes
let me stand for you ways and let me stand and overcome
let me be intentional in pursuing you and encountering you
let me encounter you so that others too who need your presence and love and grace and healing and salvation and deliverance will encounter you
kindle a fire in me to see you move in my church in my land in my life
burn in me Lord that i might burn bright for others to see
stir me towards your purposes
dare me to follow you
tranform me into your likeness
let me be aware of spiritual things and contention
that i might live toe to toe with the enemy, taking ground and not being distracted by his influences and subtle oppressions
let me live with clarify and purpose and intention for your holy ways and knowing you
reveal to me who you are and let me hold onto that vision and reality, let that burn within me and keep the fire kindled
let encountering you not be a memory but be a reality
stir me
stir others
let me stir
move o Lord
move our hearts
stir us to pray
stir us to pray
stir us to pray
We read in the biographies of our forefathers, who were most successful in winning souls, that they prayed for hours in private. The question therefore arises, can we get the same results without following their example? If we can, then let us prove to the world that we have found a better way; but if not, then in God’s name let us begin to follow those who through faith and patience obtained the promise. Our forefathers wept and prayed and agonized before the Lord for sinners to be saved, and would not rest until they were slain by the Sword of the Word of God. That was the secret of their mighty success; when things were slack and would not move they wrestled in prayer till God poured out His Spirit upon the people and sinners were converted.” Oswald J. Smith,
my heart is stirred at the moment to pray for a move of God. that God would move in our community and our land and our church and our lives. we NEED a move of God, nothing else will see people come and encounter His truth.
Who would have dared to tell Abraham that someday I would have a child? But in his old age, I have given him a son. Genesis 21:7
who dared to promise Abraham a son at the age of 100?
who dared to promise Abraham something physically impossible?
God did.
God dared.
God dared to promise something to Abraham that HE COULD fulfill and bring into being.
God dared to promise Abraham a son at the age of 100, despite the obstacles and the physical challenges and medical science.
God dares each one of us.
God calls each one of us to do something for His name and Kingdom that is greater than we can do in ourselves and our own talents and gifts.
Just as God called Jeremiah and Moses and Jonah and Daniel and Esther to change a nation and to preach His word and lead His people so too God calls each one of us to be his servants and ambassadors.
We may be called to be pastors or preachers or worship leaders or prophets or housegroup leaders or to be in the world serving him as lawyers, teachers, nurses, journalists, builders. Whether you are called to work for a church or not you are still called. God calls people to be architects, engineers, shop assistants, accountants – because he isnt perhaps interested in what we “build” but in WHO we affect for eternity. you can function as a pastor while working in a bank. you can function as an evangelist in an office. you are light and salt. wherever you are. not just contained in the four walls of a church building and not between the hours of 10-12 on a sunday morning.
What is God calling you to do?
What is God daring you to do?
Don’t be afraid if it is bigger than you can imagine and see! Don’t be afraid if it is bigger than what you can naturally do!
It was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to concieve a son at their old age. BUT by the power of God they did and had their promised son.
God dares because God DOES!
God dares the impossible because NOTHING is impossible for Him!
Have faith in God – because all things are possible for Him and He is the one who completes the good work He begins in our lives.
today i was flicking channels and pearl jam had a random song on tv between shows. i confess i really like pearl jam. i dont listen to it much, for personal reasons i choose and select what music i listen to and i find music in the secular type mode just doesnt feed me good. so i choose not to listen to it regularly. thats another topic for another time. i loved pearl jam before i became a christian. and so i indulged and watched it. it was Daughter and had an guest appearance by Ben Harper singing WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS…. and i took the moment to be spoken to by my God….
I can change the world
With my own two hands
Make a better place
With my own two hands
Make a kinder place
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can make peace on earth
With my own two hands
I can clean up the earth
With my own two hands
I can reach out to you
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
Im gonna make it a brighter place
Im gonna make it a safer place
Im gonna help the human race
With my own
With my own two hands
i believe we are called to make the world a different place, a brighter place lit by the Light of the WOrld, filled with the wonderful kindness of God.
i believe we each make a difference and each have a part to play in spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
i believe that with our own two hands we can make that difference as we obey God and follow His call and plan for our lives.
on this earth we are the Body of Christ – we are his ambassadors and his servants and his disciples and his hands and his feet.
we are called to demonstrate his love and grace and power to those around us.
its not so much our own power and our own effort but about letting God work in us and through us to those around us.
its all about people. its all about making OUR world, the community we live in, better by God’s love and grace.
am i living today, right now, as a servant of God, making the world around me a kinder, brighter place as i reflect the glory of God to those around me…
i couldnt find the pearl jam and ben harper vefsion but i did like this one…
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