A Pursuit Not A Formula

Thank You, Lord. God, we bow to You tonight. God, crush our idols.

If we're carrying offense, let us repent of those offenses tonight in that bitterness. Lord, let us leave here united and strengthened. God, I do pray for those addictions to be lifted.

God, I pray that we come back Sunday hungry for more of You. Wednesday, hungry for more of You as we get ready for rem the heavens. God, we would be so hungry that that prayer room is full at 530.

People hungry for You. Searching You. Seeking You.

I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. And what I want to do, believe it or not, I'm going to do something different at Rem the Heavens.

All of my messages. I think I'm going to do about five of the seven. Abram's going to do two.

The reason is he's preaching a couple of different Sundays because I'm traveling and speaking and different things. But I'm going to do a whole series that week on seeking God. Every night is going to be on an aspect of seeking God and developing that hunger and building that hunger for God.

And so some of that, I just want to whet your appetite now. And if I had a title, it would be a pursuit, not a formula. A pursuit, not a formula.

The reason is much of the Bible is not a formula. We think it's a formula. Do this.

Do this. Really, it's about a pursuit of God. And what happens is if we make it a formula, we'll miss the heart of God.

We'll become legalistic. Praise God we can get back on track. We forego the pursuit when it's about rules and regulations.

And a pursuit, and I begin to think about Paul that I'll be teaching on again in Acts. And when he met God. Isaiah actually met God.

Jeremiah, Moses. And you look throughout the Bible, there are experiences where you can actually have a powerful encounter with God. Now, I'm not here to explain what exactly that looks like.

We know that no man can see God and live and that He's a spirit. Those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. But there's something incredible when He touches you.

Like the prophet that said, "'My eyes have seen the King of glory.'" It was that year when King Uzziah died and his train of His robe filled the whole temple. And my eyes saw the King. Paul had that experience where he said, who are You, Lord? Jeremiah, Isaiah, pretty much all the prophets.

Moses. I'm careful not to share stuff because we want to be a conservative church and there's some people that do some wonky things. But I love that part when Moses said, show me Your glory.

Oh, you're getting weird. No, it's biblical. God, show me Your glory.

Show me who You are. I want that deeper relationship. I want that yearning, that desire.

I want to be like that deer that's looking for that brook. And once I find that water, I drink deeply of it. That's the pursuit of God.

And once you have met God, you will never go back. See, I think that's the problem with many people, with many believers. They've never had that genuine, radical, life-changing experience that shakes them to their core.

That they have that deep relationship with God. The Word comes alive and life is still challenging. Trust me.

But it's incredible when you know, I know God and I'm not going back. That pursuit. And we never catch Him.

Oh, I've never caught Him. That's that pursuit that is so healthy. But pride prevents a pursuit.

Pride often presents a deep pursuit of God. And yes, going deeper has a cost. Going deeper with God has a cost.

It's been said that if you lay yourself at Christ's feet, He will take you into His arms. If you lay yourself at Christ's feet, He will take you into His arms. But that's embarrassing.

It's not very comfortable. And a couple verses we can put up that I want to share and this will be it. The one we share often.

You will seek Me and you will find Me when you search for Me with all of your heart. Right in the middle there. When you seek Me, you will find Me when you search for Me with all of your heart.

And also, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Guys, it's about a pursuit, not a formula. Some of you say, I've got to get to church.

I've got to get to Wednesday or the Men's Study. And that's good. Please do.

But it's not about checklist. It's about a pursuit. It's about a condition of our heart.

And we must pursue Him regardless of our feelings. How many of us can say, I can't feel You, but I need You? Oh, that's a great spot to be, church. God will get you to a point where you can no longer feel Him.

The goose bumps and oh, I love it. I'm in cloud nine and the Holy Spirit's engulfed me and this is wonderful. Some days are tough.

Some days are difficult. It's those days you have to cling onto Him of His garment even when you don't feel like it. That's true test of faith.

That's a true pursuit. Even when I don't see it and feel like it, I'm still going to pursue You. He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

There's no more important message for believers than this. God, I can't hear You, but I still believe You. I can't hear You, God, but I still believe You.

Lord, my marriage is falling apart, but I still believe You. My health, my situation. God, where are You? Where are You? But I still believe You because of the pursuit.

Never forget this. A glimpse, a glimpse of Jesus will save you, but to gaze at Him will forever change you. A glimpse of the cross, that will save you.

Repent, but to gaze at it, to gaze and pursue Him and that relationship, that intimacy, that forever changes you. And that is what happens. So many people get saved, but they lose the passion of the pursuit.

They lose that. The pursuit is what keeps it all together. That's the yearning as the deer pants.

That's the desire. That's the seeking Him with all your heart, with all your strength. Where can I go to flee from the presence of the Lord? Though I make my bed in hell, He is there.

Though I go to the uttermost parts of the world, He is there. One thing have I desired of the Lord, one thing, and now I will seek to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That's a pursuit.

Church, you gotta wake up in these dire times. You gotta pursue God like never before. Half-hearted, lukewarm, legalistic Christianity is not gonna cut it in these dire times.

Pursuit, pursuit and passion. We have to have desire. Even if we don't have it, we must want it.

Guys, I know many of you, you're saying, Shane, I hear what you're saying, but I don't have that. It's okay, I've been there. I might be there on Monday.

But you have to desire it. Desire it. We must want God more than anything else.

And that's what we're getting ready for, Isaiah 64. It's actually a prayer. And sometimes I just close my eyes and listen and look and can hear the prophet Isaiah saying, oh God, rip open the heavens.

There's probably an exclamation point there. You think he was just, oh God, rend those heavens. He might have been on his face pounding that ground.

Oh God, when will You open the heavens and come down and visit Your people just like the olden days? Just like when the mountains would quake and the earth would shake and the fire of God and His descending presence would come down on that tabernacle. When, Lord, are You going to rip open the heavens and come down, let the enemies know that You are the living God and revive Your people, awaken Your people? Oh God, when is that gonna happen again? If we could get a church crying out, oh God, when are You gonna rend the heavens? We might actually see it. We might actually see it.

Church, you cannot pursue both Babylon and the bridegroom. You cannot pursue both Babylon and the bridegroom. God has got to be that all-consuming fire.

Well, pastor, are you saying you never blow it or never get angry or never have a hard day? So I wish that was the case. It's a daily struggle. But the pursuit gets you back up.

The pursuit of God, that's how you get back up. That's why the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and though he falls, the Lord upholds him with His right hand, the hand of strength, the arm of strength, and He sets him right back up on solid footing. That pursuit, that passion, and the further you go in with God, the less you can take with you.

Told you, you've downloaded a lot in my heart this morning. I couldn't wait to get here. I was weeping.

Actually, I think I heard that on a podcast Diana sent me. On the Babylon 2, now that I'm thinking about it. The deeper you go in, the less you can take with you.

Gosh, isn't that true? Some things have to die to pursue God. The deeper I go, the farther you go down, the less we can take with us. You know, I heard recently that David's first weapon was a harp.

He was a worshiper before he became a warrior. Let that sink in. And the angels go to battle, but they also worship.

Holy, holy, holy is our God. They're angelic beings, and they worship Almighty God. The heavenly hosts sing, worthy, worthy, worthy is our God.

And I love the final verse up there. In your presence is the fullness of joy. I'm going to talk about that more around the heavens, but guys, we can't be afraid of God's presence.

It's not weirdness. The Hebrew word for presence literally means God's face, but it's really used to signify an intimate, personal encounter with God. That's the Hebrew word.

So when people say that's not biblical, answer it if you want, okay. Okay. In your presence is the fullness of joy.

So in your presence is the fullness of joy, God. That's how you find true joy. Christian, you want to get back on track? You want to know your purpose? You want your marriage to be healthier? You want to be a great example for your kids? I took this out this morning, but I just remembered I saw a post that said, the first enemy a child will ever have is a parent.

When that parent is not filled with the Spirit of God, and anger comes out, and emotional abuse, and physical abuse, it scars that child for life. Parents, we have to be so full of the presence of God. His presence should be your pursuit.

And again, it doesn't mean like you get hit by a lightning bolt and you're glowing all the time. It just means you've been touched by the presence of God. You've had that intimate relationship.

I spent time with him this morning. I know him. My father loves me.

It's gonna be a good day, and there's joy there. That's where real joy comes from. You can't serve Babylon and the bridegroom.

And when we pursue God, we cannot be in a hurry. Why do we have a problem with silence? How awkward would it be if I just stopped for a minute and Chris just played, I love, I love your presence, God. I love, I love your presence, God.

We need you. We wanna wait on you. God, whatever's in my life that's distracting me, remove it.

Whatever's hindering my life, remove it. We're waiting on you, God. God, we need you.

We want your presence. Fill us with joy. It's amazing because in the temple, they would get the holy of holies ready and his presence would be there.

And they would actually, people would have to hear from Moses who experienced his presence because they didn't. But as the believer, we can experience the presence of God. We can get that joy back.

We can get that peace back. Guys, I know I sat in those chairs for years and church was so boring. I was following Babylon more than the bridegroom.

Hopefully, you have a little different perspective now of what we need to do during these worship nights and even on Sundays. Guess what? Here's the good news. You can do this at home.

Why does the media, Netflix, Vudu, Amazon Prime get most of our time at night? And then we're too tired in the morning to pursue God. That pursuit, that pursuit needs to be your priority.