This is where I want us to begin. I can share the scriptures with you, the gospel with you, guilt you, scare you, preach to you till I'm blue in the face, but if God isn't real to you, none of it will matter, none of it will stick, none of it will make any difference. I'm not saying there needs to be drama and trauma, God reveals Himself in so many marvelous ways. I'm just saying that He can’t be your awesome God until He’s more than just some principles and ideas or some literary figure or tradition and ritual you grew up with. Only if God were real to you would He be your savior and Lord, only if God were real to you would you ever live like the princes and princesses that you are, only if God were real to you would He be your God. He's not some teacher or a leader or a good example, He's God!
I said yesterday we’re going to go through some questions this weekend. I am not asking them because I am belittling you and think you don't have the answers. I know full well that most of you have been taught a lot of answers, you probably know them so well you could write it down on paper for an exam if you had to. No, I ask these questions because I know these are questions that lead you into an encounter with God, that lead you to step into his presence, that you may know, that you may experience, that you may taste, that He is God. He's alive and well and speaking and acting and loving today, in ways that you can't even begin to imagine.
After this morning message there’s a good chunk of alone time scheduled for you. Dorothy's going to keep worshiping after this, and you're free to stay a little while if you want, but my hope is that each of you will start filing out of this room to spend some alone time with God and begin praying and seeking to encounter Him in ever more real way. Maybe even put on your jacket and head out for a walk in those quiet fields, those walks helped me a lot.
Over the last couple of months in prayer, one thing I've always heard from God is that He’s been looking forward to meeting each of you, and touching each of you, and that He treasures each of you so so much. I mean, He’s someone who counts the hairs on your head! Who does that?!?! Who does that if they didn't love you and want to be with you?
For some of you, that prayer for encounter will be answered quickly, an encounter that’s undeniably God will come this weekend. The moment you step into a space with just you and Him His presence will come flooding over you in new and even mysterious ways. For some of you, as you seek Him that encounter might not happen this weekend, or next week, or next month. Maybe some of you will have things to to face in your past, things to wrestle through, things to finally lay down before God, just like I did.
I want to assure you that there's nothing wrong with taking much time to seek God out. And I plead with you, do not give up. Persevere in seeking out the person of God, however long that takes. An encounter with Him is the beginning of a whole new life, life and life to the full at that. Don't settle with glimpses from a distance. Accept no substitutes.
Is God real to you? Is He alive to you? Don't ask your pastor, don't ask your friends, don't ask me. In the next hour and some, in a time when it's just you and God, ask yourself, then ask Him.
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