Summary of Seek God
Preamble
Brent starts by praying for the people in Mexico City where a 7.1 earthquake hit the city.
Favourite verse & seeking God
Brent shares his daughter’s favourite verse. Jeremiah 29:11-14. This is a verse that many Christians cling to for comfort. But Brent tells us to keep reading; Jeremiah 29:15-16 says that God promises to listen to our prayers. This is outstanding! Think about it: the creator of the universe will listen to us when we seek him! (Proverbs 8:17: those who seek will find me.)
God seeks those who don’t know him
Jesus explained that his mission was to seek the lost. They didn’t know Jesus; so he seeked those who didn’t know him.
Seeking after God since we already know him
Since the fall of man (Genesis) and the early tribes of the Israeli people (Chronicles 7:14), our broken human nature is to hide from God once he reveals himself to us. Adam and Eve hid from God after they ate from the forbidden tree. It takes effort to seek God because it is so easy to hide from Him.
Inattention: a way of hiding from God
Brent tells the audience about his experience on a trip to another church on a long weekend. There wasn’t many people at the service because it was August long weekend. Brent realized his attitude was very critical of the church experience. Once God clued him into his poor attitude he felt horribly guilty and changed his focus. Brent began to focus on worshipping God regardless of the quality of the worship leaders. The whole experience changed to a positive experience and worshipful experience. We must remove our disgruntled attitude, our critical eye, and focus on seeking God in every experience.
Humility: the key to seeking God
We must understand our place before God. We cannot come to God with our bargaining but with our simple requests and an understanding of who we are in relation to the awesomeness of God. We are nothing. God is everything.
Disobedience: we often enjoy being in a single state
The truth: we are often blind to our own sins! Brent tells a story about a Grandpa who was babysitting his grandson. The grandpa had to deal with a grandson who filled his pants full of poop. The grandson started to play with the mess. The grandfather came in to change the situation. He knew he must clean up the grandson, but the grandson daughter against the grandfather. This is like us and God. God wants to clean us from our sin yet we fight against him because we are content in our sin!
Seek God and live!
Amos 5:4, “Seek me and live.” We need to get beyond “the checklist.” Brent is referring to our need to do “good actions” to remain in favour with God. (Examples are: read the Bible, go to church, give money…etc.) While those things often lead to seeking God, those actions cannot work without truly seeking God with a humbled heart! (John 15:5, “…apart from [God] you can do nothing.”)
About this Message Series
This message is a part of the message series Ignite. This series focuses on the importance of prayer in a Christians life. The series was started in September 2017.
About the Speaker
Brent is the lead pastor here at SouthRidge. He and his wife Pam were part of the original church plant.