Knowing God #7: It’s Your Move
Pastor Scott Applegate
Sermon Notes:
“Come near to God and he will come near to you…” James 4:8a NIV
“…who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?’ declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 30:21b NIV
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV
- Seek God humbly
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Vs 11
- Humility implies Lordship
“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter 5:5-6 NIV
- Humility helps me recognize that I cannot control the future
“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?…Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:27, 34 NIV
- Humility helps me recognizes the One who does control the future
“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…” Isaiah 30:15 NIV
- Seek God devotionally
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” Vs 12
- Intimacy with God is not earned it is nurtured
- Intimacy with God is nurtured through prayer (Matthew 6:5-13)
- Three aspects of prayer: petition, confession, adoration
- Intimacy with God is nurtured through reading His word (John 15:7-8, Matthew 7:24)
- Intimacy with God is nurtured through fasting (Matthew 6:16-18)
- Seek God wholeheartedly
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Vs 13
- Take Him at His word
“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” Numbers 13:30 NIV
“But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” Numbers 14:24 NIV
“So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.” Joshua 14:14-15 NIV
- Learn to rest in Him
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV
“For only we who believe can enter his place of rest…” Hebrews 4:3 NLT