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THE PURSUIT OF GOD

THE PURSUIT OF GOD. The Universal Presence Chapter 5. So Far. 1 – Following Hard After God 2 – The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing 3 – Removing the Veil 4 – Apprehending God 5 – The Universal Presence. Keys So Far.

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THE PURSUIT OF GOD

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  1. THE PURSUIT OF GOD The Universal Presence Chapter 5

  2. So Far 1 – Following Hard After God 2 – The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing 3 – Removing the Veil 4 – Apprehending God 5 – The Universal Presence

  3. Keys So Far • Effort: You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart, Jer. 29:13 • Surrender: Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Matt. 5:3 • Access: But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, 2 Cor. 3:16. • Determination: I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, Phil. 3:10.

  4. Today: Awareness Jer. 23:24 – Who can hide in secret place so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD. Acts 17:27 – God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

  5. 1. The Universal Presence of God • Divine immanence versus pantheism • Immanence = God fills his created universe • Pantheism = the universe is god • God is everywhere and everything he has created declares him, but God created the world wholly apart from himself. • Omnipresence = the principle that God is everywhere at once

  6. Psa. 139: 7Where can I go from your Spirit?    Where can I flee from your presence?8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,    if I settle on the far side of the sea,10 even there your hand will guide me,    your right hand will hold me fast.11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me    and the light become night around me,”12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;    the night will shine like the day,    for darkness is as light to you.

  7. Faith is believing what we do not see: Heb. 11:1 – Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 Cor. 5:7 – For we live by faith, not by sight. Rom. 8:24 – For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? Jesus, John 3:8 – The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

  8. Perceiving God • You must accept that whatever you believe about origins will be humanly “unbelievable.” • You must believe there are dimensions outside of our own space and time. • You must be willing to accept living by faith and not by sight. • You must be willing to examine evidence and simplify the decision-making. • You must be willing to accept that man is not in control, including you.

  9. 2. Divine Manifestation John 14:23 – Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” John 3:3 – Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

  10. Heb. 1 – 1In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

  11. Gen. 3 – In a divine presence in Eden Ex. 3 – Moses in a burning bush Ex. 13 – Pillar of a cloud and of a fire Ex. 19-20 – The ominous mountain Ex. 24 – An amazing personal presentation (Rev. 4) Ex. 33 – A bewildering display to Moses Job. 38 – A whirlwind Num. 12:6 – Dreams Isa. 1:1 – Visions Abraham, Joshua, Gideon – some human form Miracles – Acts 2:22, John 20:30-31

  12. Prophets A donkey A giant hand on a wall

  13. But the ultimate revelation is that of Jesus— …in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Jesus: we will come to them and make our home with them (John 14:23) John 1:18 – No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

  14. Divine Manifestation • In and through the Creation – Rom. 1:20 • In and through Humanity – Gen. 1:26-27 • In and through his Church – Eph. 2:21-22 • In and through the Supernatural – John 2:11 • In and through Revelation – 1 Cor. 2:9-10 • In and through Experience – Eph. 3:17-19 • Ultimately, through Jesus – John 1:18

  15. 3. Christian Awareness 1 Cor. 2 – 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments…

  16. Tozer: “We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.” In speaking of great spiritual examples: “The one vital quality which they had in common was spiritual receptivity. Something in them was open to heaven, something which urged them Godward.” “They differed from the average person in that when they felt the inward longing they did something about it.” (Isa. 55:6, my note)

  17. Jesus of rebirth and seeing him and his kingdom: Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. God: You will find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jesus: Seek and you will find… (Matt. 7:7). God: The fool has said in his heart there is no God (Psa. 14:1). Tozer: “Our pursuit of God is successful just because He is forever seeking to manifest Himself to us.”

  18. Listen to God’s promise – Jer. 31 31 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,    “when I will make a new covenantwith the people of Israel    and with the people of Judah.32 It will not be like the covenant    I made with their ancestorswhen I took them by the hand    to lead them out of Egypt,because they broke my covenant,    though I was a husband to them,”declares the LORD.

  19. 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel    after that time,” declares the LORD.“I will put my law in their minds    and write it on their hearts.I will be their God,    and they will be my people.34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,    or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’because they will all know me,    from the least of them to the greatest,”declares the LORD.

  20. God planned all of this. God wants to manifest himself to us. Francis Schaeffer: “He is Here and He is Not Silent.” Psalm 19:1: “the heavens declare the glory of God…” Paul: “he is not far from any of us.” “God is here when we are wholly unaware of it.” “If we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.”

  21. “It will be a great moment for some of us when we begin to believe that God’s promise of self-revelation is literally true.” Peter: Acts 2:38-39 – “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

  22. Jesus, Luke 11:13 – “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Peter, Acts 5:32 – “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” Jesus, John 11:40 – Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

  23. Tozer: “If we cooperate with him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face. If we are willing, we can: “Know God’s love in a way that surpasses “knowledge” (Eph. 3:19). We can experience a “peace that surpasses understanding” (Phil. 4:7).

  24. We can have his “knowing, 1 John 2: 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth … 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. Mark 1 – 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

  25. God-Awareness • You have to want it. • You have to have spiritual awareness. • You have to listen—really listen. • You have to be immediately responsive. • You have to believe. • You have to depend on the Spirit. • You have to really abide in Christ—“apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

  26. Conclusion • God fills the universe whether you know it or believe it. • God manifests himself in the universe whether you believe it or see it. • God will show himself to you if you will listen and be aware.

  27. Without developing God awareness… Tozer: The tragic results of this spirit are all about us: shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit. These and such as these are symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.

  28. Tozer: “He is trying to get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate with us. We have within us the ability to know Him if we will but respond to His overtures…We will know Him in increasing degree as our receptivity becomes more perfect by faith and love and practice.”

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