“It’s the Principle” part 2
Pastor David Moore
New Testament reading: John 6:35-51 (NIV)
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
At this the Jews there began to grumble about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only He has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
How do we seek God? What are we missing?
Old Testament reading: Psalm 63:1-11 (NIV)
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.
But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God’s name will praise Him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
Theme: this week is a more in-depth discussion about an appetite for God.
The mark of an authentic Christian experience is a sense of God’s absence. We are sheep, Jesus is the Shepherd. God is calling us; He is seeking us. ~D. Moore
The first mark of an actual Christian experience is that you have a connection to God, that you have an appetite for Him. ~D. Moore
Humans have a general hunger for something beyond ourselves, for a god of sorts. Sin warps us so that we don’t actually want the real God. ~D. Moore
Without a heart change, we will continue to search away from God, rather than find Him. ~D. Moore
People usually are seeking something they can control and worship. ~D. Moore
Once someone has been touched by God, we want it again, we want that touch again. And when we sense the absence of God, that is what the appetite actually is. ~D. Moore
A sense of something not there, we are incomplete. ~D. Moore
Only people who have met God have a sense when He is further away. So, feeling God is further away for a period of time is a good thing. It indicates a relationship, a real experience with God. Jesus says in John 6, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” ~D. Moore
Sin is an adoration of things rather than God, which suppresses our appetite for God. ~D. Moore
We need to develop a healthy spiritual appetite, often that is developed in solitude. Solitude can be a real test. When you are alone, where does your mind go? What do you daydream about? ~ D. Moore
The appetite for God’s truth needs an immersion of ourselves in the Truth of God’s Power, in the Truth of His Glory, in the Truth of His Holiness and Love. ~D. Moore
When we study the truth and think about it, listen to it, read it, and meditate on it, the hope is to move from information to sensation. A sign of the authentic Christian experience is that Christians are capable of a new sense of God. ~D. Moore
Psalm 34:8: Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.
Another mark of a real Christian is they get a sense of God in the heart.
1 Timothy 1:17: Now to the King eternal, immortal and invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
“As I read the words, there came into my soul a sense of the glory of the Divine Being, a new sense, quite different from anything I ever experienced before. Never had any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did. I kept saying and as it were singing over these words of Scripture to myself; and went to pray to God that I might enjoy Him; and prayed in a manner quite different from what I used to do, with a new word of affection.” ~Jonathan Edwards
Edwards knew these attributes of God; He believed them to his core. This is what I want for all of us. ~D. Moore
I can’t tell you how to make this happen, I just know it has to happen. ~D. Moore
This experience with God is satisfying. It keeps us going. Nothing on this earth can satisfy like our experiences with the Creator of the universe. ~D. Moore
The sense of God means the truth strengthens our faith. “I love you and I am for you, who can be against you.” ~D. Moore
Nehemiah 8:10: For the joy of the Lord is your strength.
This week: Spend some time praying and thinking about God. See if God becomes more real. The Christian life is about joy, not following the rules, let’s look to change that. If you struggle or have questions about the sermon, call me. God bless. ~D. Moore