Why Part 2 Why Don’t I Always Feel God Why Don't I feel God? Psalm 88:13-14 “But I cry to you for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you... Why, O Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” 1. Maybe you’re too distracted. Luke 10:38-40 “Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made….”
Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”
2. Maybe your heart has hardened. Matthew 13:14-15 “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”
3. Maybe you've allowed sin to separate you. Isaiah 59:1-2 “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”
Timothy “their consciences became seared as with a hot iron.”
4. Maybe you felt God and didn’t recognize it. Genesis 28:16 “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
5. Maybe you're too focused on feelings. John 6:29-30 “Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
Hebrews 11:6 “without faith it is impossible to please God.”
3 promises that we can trust about God’s presence 1. You will find God when you seek God.
Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord,
Open up His Word daily.
B. Seek God through prayer. C. Seek God in worship. D. Seek him with other Christians 2. God’s presence is everywhere. John 14:16 “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.”
3. You can experience God now. Acts 17:26-27 “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 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.”
Why didn't God answer my prayer? 6 things that matter when you pray:
1. Your relationships matter.
Mark 11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours."
2. Your motives matter.
James 4:2-3 "You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Proverbs 16:2 "All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord." 3. Your lifestyle matters. James 5:16 "The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective."
Proverbs 15:29 "The Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous." 4. God’s timing matters. Psalm 13:1 “How long will you forget me, Lord? Forever? How long will you look the other way when I am in need?”
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
5. Your faith matters. James 1:6-7 "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord."
Matthew 9:29-30 "Then he touched their eyes and said. According to your faith will it be done to you, and their sight was restored."
6. God's will matters.
I John 5:14-15 "This is the confidence that we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us, and if we know that he hears us --whatever we ask--we know that we will have what we ask of him."
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, but He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" 3 new prayers to pray
People are Worth It Lifegate 11th Anniversary Matthew 6:26-28 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you”
Luke 12:6-7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Romans 8:32 “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?”
Worth the pain
2. Worth the mess 3. Worth the money 4. Worth the time God’s Vision for His church consists of 4 things
Lost people saved.
2. Saved people healed. 3. Healed people trained. 4. Trained people sent. Exodus 6:6-7 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” Isaiah 61:1-4 “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” Proclaim Good News… lost people saved Bind up the brokenhearted… saved people healed Bestow on them beauty instead of ashes… healed people trained, (once again restore to your original purpose) They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations…. On a team being sent to do something that is changing the world.
The vision didn’t change in the New Testament: Mark 16:15-20 “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe... Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.” So what does that look like here at LGC? 1. We move people from lost to saved by creating a service where they can experience God. 2. We move people from saved to healed by asking them to commit to relationships and join a Lifegroup. 3. We move people from healed to trained by helping them discover and develop their spiritual gifts in LifeTRAC. 4. We move people from trained to sent by involving them in ministry on a LifeTEAM.
