The Sermon Closer to God by David McGee
Jul 18, 2010
Closer to God (25:45)
Referenced Scriptures: 2 Timothy 1:5-6
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2 Timothy 1:5-6
5) having been reminded of the unfeigned faith that is in you; which lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also.
6) For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
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Timothy chapter one verses five and six I have been reminded on your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan the flame of the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my head for God did not give us spirit of timidity, being seven, but a spirit of power of love and of self-discipline. Now, whatever we think of that passage. It is a passive, his face a less number of number of things we often look at Timothy as being a very is young and down timid individual thoughts about that. I don't look at how timid you are don't allow that to be a hindrance to you, but as you look back in the first verse is on in verses five and six. Paul is Paul is reminding Timothy on his sincere faith that live for the ball and his grandmother and then his mother and aunt. Also, it was as it were imparted to him by the laying on of hands so what what Paul is saying to Timothy is look at your life and is seen that it had been a progression of blessing and of spirituality that has come to you down for the generation. All your help through your grandmother, your mother and now even through my old apostolic, all the apostolic mission of public laying on of hands now be the idea is that in our own lives. We are all, we all have a dollar from. From my perspective my grandmother was a was a Pentecostal preacher now see Linda lay speaker. She was ordained during the incident. Hold the church, but she would go around and hold services in different churches and an yellow cells. She was a very godly woman and my mother. Of course my father were godly individuals and know they went to church and very much involved in the church and very much, live the godly example and install. I have I have all this is aware from outline the rich heritage of my faith that has been that has been now part of who I am and as we look at our lives, we are more than what we appear to be. We are there other things that transpired in our lives that have brought us to this point spiritually. Now we know we can trace it back physically. We can trace it back lineage. We were at a of our was named Beau Jo's pizza place talk about a pizza house will will have to show you that the pizzas that came out and was on the travel channel and then they were, they sell it by the pound. So if you eat their fourteen pound pizza though give use the cost seventy five box, but they'll give you on or about the third seventy five beats owning everything from pizza. Believe me, you can read it now, while we were there. The waitress she got signed my name on credit card things. This is all on the deal. We came from Ireland. Then it was like well know there is someone in the Rocky Mountains outside of Denver, who has had his share of the same last name as I do add came from Ireland and no site will vaguely trace their lineage. We might even be related somewhere along the line so we can trace our physical lineage, but what about our spiritual living and what about how that spiritual you said we have how important it is far home personal well-being where we are now there's this this this was written by Henry no in all UW and no new and renewing NSS, the strategies of the principalities and powers is to disconnect us. Okay, now what is referring to here is, as the Scripture says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and power meeting against the rulers of darkness. Okay, so the strategies on the principalities and powers is to disconnect us to cut us off from the Miriam God now principalities and powers can cut God memory off of us and cut costs. All of remembering God a United place that there is there is a strategy that is about the evil in this world. The principalities and powers of this world is at work to cut us off from remembering God. It is not hard to see how many of our busy actions and restless concerns seem to disconnect us, reminding us of nothing more than the disorder of our old orientation of our own commitment when we no longer walk in the presence of the Lord when we no longer walk in the presence of the Lord. We cannot be living reminders of this divine presence in our lives and this is the focus of water where I want to look at this morning. In that event, how much of our life is living in a disconnect from our memory of God and of our relationship with God that there we know longer see ourselves as living reminder of the divine presence. We do not see ourselves as living reminders of the divine presence. We go on. We then quickly become strangers in an alien land who have forgotten where we come from and where we are going, then we no longer then we are no longer the way to the experience of God in what I write is this like your thinking about it meditating on it, going over. It's like, well, wait a minute here. If we no longer walk in the presence award and we no longer become the way for people to experience God. Rather we try to end up in the way of people experiencing God that is walking in God 's presence. We start walking in a vicious cycle, cycle of our own understanding and of our own doing and he goes on us. It's another to sentences in recent years I have become more and more aware of my own tendency to think that the value of my presence depends upon what I say or do. Then I began to see my value that focuses around when I say and what I do not. Going back to those previous things about that I no longer walk in the presence of the Lord, and I no longer on the way to experience God. I now see myself as what I am doing and what I am saying and yet it is becoming clear to me that every day that this preoccupation with performing in fact prevents me from letting God things remain in any way that he wants something from me from making connections prior to any special word or deed, but somehow I am looking at my life and that it is my words and my deeds that somehow is initiating who I am and what when Paul is telling Timothy here is that you have a spiritual lineage as part of your life. You cannot you cannot allow your attentiveness and your youth to get in the way of representing the presence of God, and that whatever we are going about our life if we sell focus on what we do and what we say that we think that this becomes who we are, but it is only part of who we are who we are as Christians is that we are the presence of God. We are the presence of God walking into people 's lives, and when we lose our focus that we are about doing something, we live the focus of being the presence of God lives in how much people need the presence of God. Now there are some people who just build up barriers immediately by member. Forgive me, I know I've told the story before, but I'm older and I'm getting senile. All you have to. I'm not getting alerts enough, but I don't think stories within those things when we were in Bible college, we issued out to Providence and in a week we were at school in Providence, Rhode Island, and limited Saturday night and walked the streets and unique people and talk to them about about God and whenever we went, we would park our car. Hopefully the safe place and we would walk down the same street to the kind like that the moon and a complex in the outdoor market for raw shops and stores than things and in Providence and we were blocked the same straight and every time we parked car, walked down the street. There is a palm reader whose little storefront was there and she would always back and I said in a cum laude in an film. We were never going of course, except one night we walked by, and one guy said let's go in with the all right mortgage when we go in there was no one I will go in, so we walked in, she sucked on Iran to reach for artists and the guy that the Bible put it in her head. She says let me tell your future input of Bible in her hand and says, let me tell you your future sheets three. She loverly 's ratings and set get out of here, get out of here. We don't want your spirit here. We don't want your spirit here and wanted representative. See whatever we we represented God, and she was representing something else present all the powers of darkness that she wanted nothing to do with Jesus Christ and nothing to do with this by in fact, she ran around first. That little storefront opening the door, trying to push us out and then ran in the back room and her mother came our older woman came out that Weigel, please go. You're ruining our spirit trying to push us out the door you see you represent you represent God, and you represent something greater. You don't was more than what you say is more than what we do and it's important that because we look at our life. We all have work. We all have things we do. We all have things that we set down in the NL talk about things you know that we think our eyes, but as Christians we are more than that you are the presence of God, not because of you, but because of Christ, who dwells in you, Christ dwells in us, and we are wearing is more than its more than nine hours and have somebody coming, but that union story dragged him along on Dragon got along the backup. I'm going through my life and/or my thinking gone on to my backup in case I need know the Bible says the guy goes before us is beside us these above us is beneath us is behind us. He sent us that God is this all is God as so as we represented it isn't. I know were not being so gloriously say a look at me I'm God. Now that the spirit of God is with us and that we are more than what we say and more than what we do and we are we are representing his present, and when we walked in anywhere. We are walking with God and God goes before us, and we get disconnected sometimes from God and from his word because we somehow God is about serving rather than not serving him, that God will provide for us, and God will do this right and somehow he is serving. I think it ought whenever the disciples when the disciples. They had a banner that is that like my phone again and now it may want a broken light. The disciples. They came to Jesus and they said to reset on your right hand and on your lap it all is soon coming to your kingdom, and we want to send on your right hand and on your left. And Jesus says that you don't know what you're asking me all yeah we do we know what were asking. We like that power stop and an day and do it. Jesus said to them, can you drink the cup that I train continued to help you go through the whole life in the something that done, what about all we can do that. What happened there. The disciples in a no and Jesus explained to them as you read through that I can look up the passenger moment for a part of the exact passage, but Jesus said to them, you know what it is like for rollers to be in charge and how that they lorded over people they had a misconception of what being a leader was all about. They thought that leadership in the kingdom of God was going to be like the leadership that was there in the Roman government. They thought that the Roman government know-how that the rollers. They then was they were serving themselves. They were the will offer people and they further south minor by their being human leadership. So the disciples were assuming that if they are going to be leaders in the kingdom of God, that they could get people to serve them. And Jesus said to them, you don't know what you're asking because you really don't understand what it means to sit on my right hand and on my lap, thinking about that and and and wondering how much of our self-awareness, which is a good thing. You know what our skills and liabilities of what we do. We don't do what we say were going out no taking my test of Rhonda Helsley with in college and into thinking we look at all those things, but our life is more than those that are line is the presence of God, and we don't walk in the presence of God were nothing but clanging cymbals and sounding brass, no prescriptive thirteen lot is patients, kindness, gentleness and meekness loving is this relational experience that we have with God that goals about bringing God into people 's lives long before we say in before we do anything long before we say or do something we bring God so Jesus was telling the disciples don't know what you're asking there a wrong concept of above what it was to be an authority what was to have oppositional leader have a leadership position they were, they were caught up in seeing what the day. Romans did and what the Jewish people. There and held high priest in them, and they were looking at those individuals inside. I can be that kind of leader adjacent to say it's not that kind of leader that I'm looking for. I'm not coming to build their kingdom. I come to build my kingdom, and this is where we are actively building the kingdom of God by the presence of God, and that we are bringing is aware walking with God, and in the presence of Robert are bringing God is in and were dragging it behind us that that God is in 's and God is there with us and he is he is overseeing our thoughts and Internet. We're doing that which is pleasing in his sight. And when we are doing that, then we are about saying and doing, becoming the self-awareness. The awareness of God into us these. This is the place where the place were we find God in us together in an inseparable union that we go together with him to do our daily tasks we go together with God to do and to live our life, and that wherever I am, God is there, wherever I find myself in whatever I'm thinking you memorized I'm doing this. I'm allowing God feelings irony. I'm allowing God thoughts his thoughts become my thoughts in his ways to become my ways. I'm allowing him to inspire me rather than me trying to its wire myself. I'm allowing God to make away for me rather than the make away from the because God is not going with me. I don't want to go. If God is not with me. I don't want to go because I don't want to go alone. I want God to be there with it his way in his will come my way. My is the presence of God goes before us know why most scary scriptures is one that says genealogies as they come before Jesus and they say to him and Jesus says, then I don't know you and in your department. I never knew you. And they say Jesus sure you know us women. Women preachers and women cast out devils and women doing all the stuff for you you are you and Allah, Jesus said no. I don't know you in error. Again, it was one of those, like misconceptions they were doing things for God rather than God doing things for them and sometimes in our life were busy doing things for God to make God happy. Please send them to somehow make God happy with us and we don't have to do things for him. He wants us to do things with, and that what these people did. They did for themselves declaring it was God and we want to do things with God that will change them for an eternity. We want to want to want to be in the presence of God that will change people 's lives, eternity, not impressive for a moment. We want to change lives for eternity. How do we change lives for eternity. We change them for eternity by recognizing God is with and I am with him that we are in this separable. You them wherever I am, God is there and whatever I'm doing I'm I'm asking is will and his purpose be accomplished in me, and that whenever I am doing his will and his purpose. It isn't about what I do and what I say is about God being there first. When I walked in when I hear when I am singing when I'm doing this and that I am honoring and bringing honor and glory to God because I am with him. He is with me. We are together this now and forever. Amen, so is the NL of Luke was standing at the altar, a Karabakh and thousands that have a better view up here and the eye, thinking that young the little one. He felt comfortable enough, he felt comfortable here and we should feel so comfortable separated from the rest and close to God. We should feel that we should feel so comfortable, close to God. That's what we need. We need to feel comfortable, close to God. And when we feel that comfort. We feel that closeness that we know everything is okay because is not that I said or did, is that God is here with me. I don't have to worry about what I'm saying what I'm doing to think about God. Think about that closeness that separation that I look around and Amelia Lanier, a felt comfortable there is a good deal of bread and then answer like this that you know I had alike. This will be like that separation from the world from that which is why and that closeness that we feel about feeling comfortable that minute Timothy chapter one verses five and six I have been reminded on your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan the flame of the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my head for God did not give us spirit of timidity, being seven, but a spirit of power of love and of self-discipline. Now, whatever we think of that passage. It is a passive, his face a less number of number of things we often look at Timothy as being a very is young and down timid individual thoughts about that. I don't look at how timid you are don't allow that to be a hindrance to you, but as you look back in the first verse is on in verses five and six. Paul is Paul is reminding Timothy on his sincere faith that live for the ball and his grandmother and then his mother and aunt. Also, it was as it were imparted to him by the laying on of hands so what what Paul is saying to Timothy is look at your life and is seen that it had been a progression of blessing and of spirituality that has come to you down for the generation. All your help through your grandmother, your mother and now even through my old apostolic, all the apostolic mission of public laying on of hands now be the idea is that in our own lives. We are all, we all have a dollar from. From my perspective my grandmother was a was a Pentecostal preacher now see Linda lay speaker. She was ordained during the incident. Hold the church, but she would go around and hold services in different churches and an yellow cells. She was a very godly woman and my mother. Of course my father were godly individuals and know they went to church and very much involved in the church and very much, live the godly example and install. I have I have all this is aware from outline the rich heritage of my faith that has been that has been now part of who I am and as we look at our lives, we are more than what we appear to be. We are there other things that transpired in our lives that have brought us to this point spiritually. Now we know we can trace it back physically. We can trace it back lineage. We were at a of our was named Beau Jo's pizza place talk about a pizza house will will have to show you that the pizzas that came out and was on the travel channel and then they were, they sell it by the pound. So if you eat their fourteen pound pizza though give use the cost seventy five box, but they'll give you on or about the third seventy five beats owning everything from pizza. Believe me, you can read it now, while we were there. The waitress she got signed my name on credit card things. This is all on the deal. We came from Ireland. Then it was like well know there is someone in the Rocky Mountains outside of Denver, who has had his share of the same last name as I do add came from Ireland and no site will vaguely trace their lineage. We might even be related somewhere along the line so we can trace our physical lineage, but what about our spiritual living and what about how that spiritual you said we have how important it is far home personal well-being where we are now there's this this this was written by Henry no in all UW and no new and renewing NSS, the strategies of the principalities and powers is to disconnect us. Okay, now what is referring to here is, as the Scripture says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and power meeting against the rulers of darkness. Okay, so the strategies on the principalities and powers is to disconnect us to cut us off from the Miriam God now principalities and powers can cut God memory off of us and cut costs. All of remembering God a United place that there is there is a strategy that is about the evil in this world. The principalities and powers of this world is at work to cut us off from remembering God. It is not hard to see how many of our busy actions and restless concerns seem to disconnect us, reminding us of nothing more than the disorder of our old orientation of our own commitment when we no longer walk in the presence of the Lord when we no longer walk in the presence of the Lord. We cannot be living reminders of this divine presence in our lives and this is the focus of water where I want to look at this morning. In that event, how much of our life is living in a disconnect from our memory of God and of our relationship with God that there we know longer see ourselves as living reminder of the divine presence. We do not see ourselves as living reminders of the divine presence. We go on. We then quickly become strangers in an alien land who have forgotten where we come from and where we are going, then we no longer then we are no longer the way to the experience of God in what I write is this like your thinking about it meditating on it, going over. It's like, well, wait a minute here. If we no longer walk in the presence award and we no longer become the way for people to experience God. Rather we try to end up in the way of people experiencing God that is walking in God 's presence. We start walking in a vicious cycle, cycle of our own understanding and of our own doing and he goes on us. It's another to sentences in recent years I have become more and more aware of my own tendency to think that the value of my presence depends upon what I say or do. Then I began to see my value that focuses around when I say and what I do not. Going back to those previous things about that I no longer walk in the presence of the Lord, and I no longer on the way to experience God. I now see myself as what I am doing and what I am saying and yet it is becoming clear to me that every day that this preoccupation with performing in fact prevents me from letting God things remain in any way that he wants something from me from making connections prior to any special word or deed, but somehow I am looking at my life and that it is my words and my deeds that somehow is initiating who I am and what when Paul is telling Timothy here is that you have a spiritual lineage as part of your life. You cannot you cannot allow your attentiveness and your youth to get in the way of representing the presence of God, and that whatever we are going about our life if we sell focus on what we do and what we say that we think that this becomes who we are, but it is only part of who we are who we are as Christians is that we are the presence of God. We are the presence of God walking into people 's lives, and when we lose our focus that we are about doing something, we live the focus of being the presence of God lives in how much people need the presence of God. Now there are some people who just build up barriers immediately by member. Forgive me, I know I've told the story before, but I'm older and I'm getting senile. All you have to. I'm not getting alerts enough, but I don't think stories within those things when we were in Bible college, we issued out to Providence and in a week we were at school in Providence, Rhode Island, and limited Saturday night and walked the streets and unique people and talk to them about about God and whenever we went, we would park our car. Hopefully the safe place and we would walk down the same street to the kind like that the moon and a complex in the outdoor market for raw shops and stores than things and in Providence and we were blocked the same straight and every time we parked car, walked down the street. There is a palm reader whose little storefront was there and she would always back and I said in a cum laude in an film. We were never going of course, except one night we walked by, and one guy said let's go in with the all right mortgage when we go in there was no one I will go in, so we walked in, she sucked on Iran to reach for artists and the guy that the Bible put it in her head. She says let me tell your future input of Bible in her hand and says, let me tell you your future sheets three. She loverly 's ratings and set get out of here, get out of here. We don't want your spirit here. We don't want your spirit here and wanted representative. See whatever we we represented God, and she was representing something else present all the powers of darkness that she wanted nothing to do with Jesus Christ and nothing to do with this by in fact, she ran around first. That little storefront opening the door, trying to push us out and then ran in the back room and her mother came our older woman came out that Weigel, please go. You're ruining our spirit trying to push us out the door you see you represent you represent God, and you represent something greater. You don't was more than what you say is more than what we do and it's important that because we look at our life. We all have work. We all have things we do. We all have things that we set down in the NL talk about things you know that we think our eyes, but as Christians we are more than that you are the presence of God, not because of you, but because of Christ, who dwells in you, Christ dwells in us, and we are wearing is more than its more than nine hours and have somebody coming, but that union story dragged him along on Dragon got along the backup. I'm going through my life and/or my thinking gone on to my backup in case I need know the Bible says the guy goes before us is beside us these above us is beneath us is behind us. He sent us that God is this all is God as so as we represented it isn't. I know were not being so gloriously say a look at me I'm God. Now that the spirit of God is with us and that we are more than what we say and more than what we do and we are we are representing his present, and when we walked in anywhere. We are walking with God and God goes before us, and we get disconnected sometimes from God and from his word because we somehow God is about serving rather than not serving him, that God will provide for us, and God will do this right and somehow he is serving. I think it ought whenever the disciples when the disciples. They had a banner that is that like my phone again and now it may want a broken light. The disciples. They came to Jesus and they said to reset on your right hand and on your lap it all is soon coming to your kingdom, and we want to send on your right hand and on your left. And Jesus says that you don't know what you're asking me all yeah we do we know what were asking. We like that power stop and an day and do it. Jesus said to them, can you drink the cup that I train continued to help you go through the whole life in the something that done, what about all we can do that. What happened there. The disciples in a no and Jesus explained to them as you read through that I can look up the passenger moment for a part of the exact passage, but Jesus said to them, you know what it is like for rollers to be in charge and how that they lorded over people they had a misconception of what being a leader was all about. They thought that leadership in the kingdom of God was going to be like the leadership that was there in the Roman government. They thought that the Roman government know-how that the rollers. They then was they were serving themselves. They were the will offer people and they further south minor by their being human leadership. So the disciples were assuming that if they are going to be leaders in the kingdom of God, that they could get people to serve them. And Jesus said to them, you don't know what you're asking because you really don't understand what it means to sit on my right hand and on my lap, thinking about that and and and wondering how much of our self-awareness, which is a good thing. You know what our skills and liabilities of what we do. We don't do what we say were going out no taking my test of Rhonda Helsley with in college and into thinking we look at all those things, but our life is more than those that are line is the presence of God, and we don't walk in the presence of God were nothing but clanging cymbals and sounding brass, no prescriptive thirteen lot is patients, kindness, gentleness and meekness loving is this relational experience that we have with God that goals about bringing God into people 's lives long before we say in before we do anything long before we say or do something we bring God so Jesus was telling the disciples don't know what you're asking there a wrong concept of above what it was to be an authority what was to have oppositional leader have a leadership position they were, they were caught up in seeing what the day. Romans did and what the Jewish people. There and held high priest in them, and they were looking at those individuals inside. I can be that kind of leader adjacent to say it's not that kind of leader that I'm looking for. I'm not coming to build their kingdom. I come to build my kingdom, and this is where we are actively building the kingdom of God by the presence of God, and that we are bringing is aware walking with God, and in the presence of Robert are bringing God is in and were dragging it behind us that that God is in 's and God is there with us and he is he is overseeing our thoughts and Internet. We're doing that which is pleasing in his sight. And when we are doing that, then we are about saying and doing, becoming the self-awareness. The awareness of God into us these. This is the place where the place were we find God in us together in an inseparable union that we go together with him to do our daily tasks we go together with God to do and to live our life, and that wherever I am, God is there, wherever I find myself in whatever I'm thinking you memorized I'm doing this. I'm allowing God feelings irony. I'm allowing God thoughts his thoughts become my thoughts in his ways to become my ways. I'm allowing him to inspire me rather than me trying to its wire myself. I'm allowing God to make away for me rather than the make away from the because God is not going with me. I don't want to go. If God is not with me. I don't want to go because I don't want to go alone. I want God to be there with it his way in his will come my way. My is the presence of God goes before us know why most scary scriptures is one that says genealogies as they come before Jesus and they say to him and Jesus says, then I don't know you and in your department. I never knew you. And they say Jesus sure you know us women. Women preachers and women cast out devils and women doing all the stuff for you you are you and Allah, Jesus said no. I don't know you in error. Again, it was one of those, like misconceptions they were doing things for God rather than God doing things for them and sometimes in our life were busy doing things for God to make God happy. Please send them to somehow make God happy with us and we don't have to do things for him. He wants us to do things with, and that what these people did. They did for themselves declaring it was God and we want to do things with God that will change them for an eternity. We want to want to want to be in the presence of God that will change people 's lives, eternity, not impressive for a moment. We want to change lives for eternity. How do we change lives for eternity. We change them for eternity by recognizing God is with and I am with him that we are in this separable. You them wherever I am, God is there and whatever I'm doing I'm I'm asking is will and his purpose be accomplished in me, and that whenever I am doing his will and his purpose. It isn't about what I do and what I say is about God being there first. When I walked in when I hear when I am singing when I'm doing this and that I am honoring and bringing honor and glory to God because I am with him. He is with me. We are together this now and forever. Amen, so is the NL of Luke was standing at the altar, a Karabakh and thousands that have a better view up here and the eye, thinking that young the little one. He felt comfortable enough, he felt comfortable here and we should feel so comfortable separated from the rest and close to God. We should feel that we should feel so comfortable, close to God. That's what we need. We need to feel comfortable, close to God. And when we feel that comfort. We feel that closeness that we know everything is okay because is not that I said or did, is that God is here with me. I don't have to worry about what I'm saying what I'm doing to think about God. Think about that closeness that separation that I look around and Amelia Lanier, a felt comfortable there is a good deal of bread and then answer like this that you know I had alike. This will be like that separation from the world from that which is why and that closeness that we feel about feeling comfortable that minute