Understanding How To Experience God

Written by Ed Allen
 Sunday, 15 March 2009 09:00

Sermons - Our Spiritual DNA

mp3

Sermon Notes

Here is a life-changing truth: God really wants us to know Him! He doesn't want us to just know about Him. He wants us to have a real relationship with Him.

Ephesians 1:15-23

15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

God really wants us to know Him

The Bible talks about:

  • Hearing the voice of God
  • Being in the strong arms of God
  • Being delivered by God
  • Delighting yourself in the Lord
  • Taste and see that God is good

God wants us to more than just know about Him.

  • God isn't satisfied when we know things about Him. He wants us to know Him.
  • When we know God, everything changes.

When we know God, here is what we can increasingly experience:

  • Hope
  • Richness
  • Power: "His incomparably great power for us who believe."

Your spiritual DNA gives you everything you need to know God.

  • Your spiritual DNA comes from God

Knowing God is not like knowing anyone else.

  • That is why, in order to know God, He has to show Himself to you.
  • Our faith is about revelation... God revealing Himself to us.

Here is how knowing God works:

  • God shows Himself to us - mainly in Jesus Christ.
  • God puts Himself in our path.
    • Hebrews 1:1-3 “1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
  • God also shows Himself to us through:
    • the testimony of His work
    • nature
    • suffering
  • When we come to understand and accept who Jesus is, God gives us the DNA we really need to know Him.
    • 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!... God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
    • 1 Peter 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”
    • 2 Petere 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

So, if we are going to know God, we have to to:

  • Pray for God to show Himself to us.
  • Recognize Him all around you.
  • Accept Jesus.
  • Say Yes to what He does... obey God.

With your Lab Partner, answer the following:

  1. What is your favorite medium of communication (email, Facebook, phone, Twitter, other)?
  2. Do you think different generations tend to answer question #1 differently?
  3. “I tend to be well-known by...”
    1. only my friends
    2. only a few close friends
    3. whoever I spend a lot of time with
    4. many people
    5. people I grew up with
    6. Other
  4. How does it make you feel to hear that knowing God is not like knowing anyone else?
    1. relieved
    2. excited
    3. confused
    4. overwhelmed
    5. doubtful
    6. other
  5. How does it make you feel to hear that knowing God depends, in part, on Him showing Himself to you?

Small Group Questions

If you miss everything else...

  1. God wants us to KNOW Him.
  2. Our faith is about REVELATION. God shows Himself to us.

SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 1:15-23

Warm-up

  • Option 1: If you didn’t do it last week, play “Two Truths and a Lie”. Each person writes three facts on a piece of paper. Two are true statements and one is not. Don’t put names on the papers: fold them and draw each one randomly. Guess (1) WHO wrote the statements; and (2) which one is not true?
  • Option 2: Discuss: What is your earliest memory of experiencing God?

Questions for Discussion:

  1. READ Hebrews 1: 1-3; 2 Peter 1:3; 2 Corinthians 5: 17 and 21. What do you learn about God from these passages? Which attribute of God do you need to get to know better?
  2. Knowing God is not like knowing anyone else. What is your reaction to this truth? (OPTIONS: relieved; excited; confused; doubtful; etc.)
  3. How does it make you feel to hear that knowing God depends, in part, on Him showing Himself to You?
  4. How have you seen God working in your life lately?
  5. Can you think of a time when God was working in your life but you only realized it later? Discuss.
  6. How can we learn to RECOGNIZE God’s work and direction in our lives?
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