Pastor Jonathan Burgess
August 16, 2015 - W1533

How many of us have been in that place where we say, "God, if you don't save me now, I don't know if I'm going make it?" We've all been in that place. That's tonight's message about pursuing God's presence.

In fact, this is my airplane story. About 12 years ago, Pastor Elwin said, "Hey, Jon, you want to be a part of the men's ministry to do some yardwork and maintenance over at Kalaupapa, the leper colony over on Molokai?" And I answered, "Sure, I would love to do that, absolutely." But he didn't mention the little puddle jumper that we were going to be taking from here over to there.

On top of that, as we were on our way, the pilot mentioned that we were flying into a storm and that he needed to find a hole in the cloud before he could descend to Kalaupapa or he needed to turn back.

And basically, you know, I started praying. I start pursuing the presence of God right there in the plane. I frantically pray, "Oh, Lord, please help me."

Suddenly, there was that hole in the clouds that the pilot was looking for and so we were able to descend and land in Kalaupapa.

I found the entry for after that event, and it reminded me of what God taught me in that. We were reading out of Job 38 where God is saying, “Hey, Job, you need to look around. I am the one in charge of everything. I'm in charge of the clouds. I'm in charge of the sea. I'm in charge of all the weather. Why are you doubting me?"

But what we're talking about tonight is what it looks like when a life is given to pursuing the presence of God all the time.

In Heb. 4:16 it says,

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.

There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to

help us when we need it most.”

1. “Come Boldly”: Pure Pursuit

   In your pure pursuit of God, you should be bold and passionate because everyone that is will be saved.

The Bible says, “No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet

Joel: ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out My Spirit

upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your

young men will see visions, and your old men will dream

dreams. In those days I will pour out My Spirit even on My

servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy…

But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be

saved.’’’ (Acts 2:16-18, 21 NLT)

What's that look like? What's it look like to live in the presence of God and to be used by God like that, like what he just described? You notice that in that description there was no one left out---men, women, young, old, rich, poor, everyone. That means everyone in this room, everyone watching online right now, this promise is for you. God says come boldly, pursue what is yours through the Holy Spirit.

Remember …

* Pure Pursuit = A passionate people

2. “Receive Mercy”: Constant Confession

King David did not obey God in transporting the Ark of the Covenant, so because of that, a man died.

“David was now afraid of the Lord, and he asked, ‘How can I

ever bring the Ark of the Lord back into my care?’ So David

decided not to move the Ark of the Lord into the City of David.

Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom of Gath. The Ark

of the Lord remained there in Obed-edom’s house for three

months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and his entire

household. Then King David was told, ‘The Lord has blessed

Obed-edom’s household and everything he has because of the

Ark of God.’ So David went there and brought the Ark of God

from the house of Obed-edom to the City of David with a great

celebration. After the men who were carrying the Ark of the

Lord had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fattened

calf.” (2 Sam. 6:9-13 NLT)

King David repented and confessed to God by sacrificing a bull every six steps. He constantly and repeatedly showed his repentance and confession through these sacrifices.

We need to receive grace and mercy. How do we do that? Through constant confession. We need to come boldly through pure pursuit, and we need to receive mercy through constant confession.

* Constant Confession = A consistent character

For us, constant confession to God is the way to consistent character.

3. “Find Grace”: Measure Movements

What is measured movements? Well, we are told by the world how to measure our success. We are told by the world how to move, how to use our time, and yet, I would say that we are measuring by the wrong measurements if we are measuring by anything other than Jesus. Even religion is not a good measurement. Religion can really muck things up, confuse it, make it all about us. But if it's about Jesus, then it's about grace, and if it's about grace, we're going to find our movements in lock step with his.

The Bible says that,

“Six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, ‘Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If You want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials —one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy. Listen to Him.’ The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground. Then Jesus came over and touched them. ‘Get up,’ He said. ‘Don’t be afraid.’ And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus. As they went back down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Don’t tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’” (Matt. 17:1-9 NLT)

Peter, James and John made the mistake of making the event more about themselves rather than about God and Jesus.

* Measured Movements = A missional movement

Can I just say that whatever it is that God is going to do through New Hope next, it's going to involve you and me filled with the Holy Spirit? I want to invite you right now in our remaining moments here to do what I did, to receive a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to get on my knees, and I'm going to pray for myself, for my family, for this church for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit because without him, we are not going to be able to do what God is calling all of us to do - come boldly, receive mercy, find grace at the throne.

Questions

1. Why should we pursue the presence of God all the time?

2. Why should we come boldly to the throne?

3. What is measured movements?

4. Why should we invite God's correction?

5. How do we find grace?