{"id":1029,"date":"2014-07-18T19:47:40","date_gmt":"2014-07-19T02:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=1029"},"modified":"2014-08-02T14:15:24","modified_gmt":"2014-08-02T21:15:24","slug":"behold-your-god-wk-1-a-hunger-for-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=1029","title":{"rendered":"Behold Your God &#8211; Wk 1 A Hunger for God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Week One DVD \u2013 Behold Your God<\/p>\n<p>This study is not about you and me getting more out of God, but it is about God.\u00a0 Ultimately this leads to our good since thinking correctly about God is very important.\u00a0 To quote AW Tozer \u2013\u201c<em>What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 The study guide is divided into Five days, and I will be attempting to summarize each day to you in these short lessons.\u00a0 I will make a copy of these notes available for you or you can purchase the guide for the series.<\/p>\n<p>The Mediation verse for this first section is: Psalm 27:8 \u201c<strong>When you said \u201cSeek my face\u201d My said to You, \u201cYour face, Lord, I will seek.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Day One: The study guide begins with the verse from Jeremiah 9:23-24 <strong>Thus says the Lord, \u201cLet not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; <sup>24<\/sup> but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,\u201d declares the Lord<\/strong>.\u00a0 Why would this verse have been added to our Bible? What is the purpose of the command?\u00a0 What is God communicating in this verse?<\/p>\n<p>Are the things discussed above (wisdom, might, riches) important?\u00a0 How do we keep them in their proper place with what is actually important?\u00a0 Why do you think that these things listed above are not worth boasting about \u2013 most likely because you didn\u2019t have everything to do with getting them.\u00a0 However the fact that you know God and understand God, that is also something given to a person.\u00a0 But one has more value than the other.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the problems we get into with our Christianity are that we have come to expect:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>God should do the right things by us because we have chosen Him.<\/li>\n<li>We often prefer to search out God\u2019s promises to us rather than God\u2019s revelation about Himself.<\/li>\n<li>We think our eternal life is like a picture, not like a film.\u00a0 A single event for salvation not the continuing images of knowing and understanding God.<\/li>\n<li>When was the last time you prayed to God and asked for Him to reveal Himself to you more than He has?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Day Two:\u00a0 We know that complete knowledge of God is impossible but there are aspects of God\u2019s character that are knowable.\u00a0 But what is an attribute of God?\u00a0 1) It is something God has revealed to be true about Himself.\u00a0 2) It is something that is essentially true about God.\u00a0 3) It is something that is in perfect harmony with all God\u2019s other attributes.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, I was reading that we discover who we are when we are caught off-guard.\u00a0 If I am driving in my car \u2013 beep \u2013 beep, and then someone surprisingly cuts me off so that I have to play Mario Andretti to avoid getting in an accident, then I have been caught by surprise.\u00a0 I am more likely to behave poorly.\u00a0 However, if I have all the time I need to prepare for such a thing, or I notice this driver being a little odd prior to the event, well I have better control of my emotions and my reactions.\u00a0 First of all, we don\u2019t catch God by surprise, but imagine you did God would respond according to what is true about Himself.\u00a0 He never changes, never gets tired.\u00a0 All these things tell us that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.\u00a0 God will act just as He is.\u00a0 People tell you that they have a new revelation about who God is; well I am sorry because God hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n<p>And He doesn\u2019t have two sides of His character.\u00a0 He deals with sin exactly the same if you are a believer or a non-believer.\u00a0 In the case of the non-believer, the punishment is death, or eternal separation from God.\u00a0 In the case of the believer, the punishment is death, but that death has been paid in full by Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<p>As we strive to know God, never forget that God is infinite.\u00a0 You won\u2019t be able to measure Him or box Him in.\u00a0 Trust me when I tell you, He doesn\u2019t have to try to understand you because He does.\u00a0 If nothing else, remembering that God is infinite should cause us to live humbly with our God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Joni Eareckson Tada said this: <em>\u00a0One of the most wonderful things about knowing God is that there is always so much more to know.\u00a0 Just when we least expect it, He intrudes into our neat and tidy notions about who He is and how He works<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Day Three:\u00a0 The question might have come up to you:\u00a0 Why is knowing God not simple?\u00a0 This is because knowing God is dependent on coming to God according to His rules, not our own.\u00a0\u00a0 None of this are inclined to be a fallen heart\u2019s natural bent.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u00a0The Reverent \u2013 Psalm 25:4<\/li>\n<li>The Pure in Heart \u2013 Matt 5:8 (pure = undivided, unpolluted, unmixed)<\/li>\n<li>The Childlike \u2013 Matt 11:25-28<\/li>\n<li>The Obedient \u2013 John 14:21<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The question that the guide encourages us to ask to ourselves is:\u00a0 Is God continuing to reveal more and more of Himself to you or have you grown comfortable with your level of maturity?<\/p>\n<p>Day Four:\u00a0 Christianity is both remarkably simple and remarkably complex.\u00a0 Coming into the body of Christ is so simple that a child can welcome Christ into their hearts.\u00a0 That same child can spend his life in the pursuit of knowing God and will live decades and be the first to admit he does not fully understand His Creator.<\/p>\n<p>Look at Colossians 1:3-23 \u2013<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Identify Christ\u2019s Character \u2013 (verses 15-18) \u2013 He is.<\/li>\n<li>Identify what Christ has (verses 12-14, 20-22) The work of the Father and Son. He has.<\/li>\n<li>Identify my response (verses 9-12, 23) What should be my response to Him. I must.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Day Five:\u00a0 What are the dangers of the counterfeits in our world?\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t surprise us people and the world attempt to counterfeit this pearl of great price.\u00a0 Things of value are often copied.\u00a0 Usually things that are copied are cheaper for a reason.\u00a0 It\u2019s made cheaper, quality is not important, just the name of the product is important, not the maker.\u00a0 What would be the reason someone might suggest a quicker, easier path to God?\u00a0 Even though counterfeits might look like the same kind of thing, it is not. The three that were mentioned in the DVD are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Knowledge by Hearsay &#8211; We think we know God through hearsay and second hand knowledge.\u00a0 Counterfeit<\/li>\n<li>Textualism &#8211; we mistake an allegiance with a text as being equal to knowing God.\u00a0 We think if we can quote a certain author that will give the impression that we truly know God.\u00a0 Counterfeit.<\/li>\n<li>True Truths &#8211; truth no longer impacts our lives, it doesn\u2019t make a difference.\u00a0 We are too familiar with the common truths and because of that, there is no impact. The truths have lost their impact and their power in our lives.\u00a0 Counterfeit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Edward Payson \u2013 <em>If there is one fact or doctrine or promise in the Bible which has produced no practical effect upon your temper or conduct, be assured that you do not truly believe it<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that you have access to something worth counterfeiting.\u00a0 Don\u2019t know if anyone ever comes into my home and asked me: Is that an original?\u00a0 But I am sure plenty of people have asked me if my Christianity was the real thing.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t suggest you go around singing the Coca-Cola song, but our lives should prompt questions in others and we should be like Peter instructed us to be: <strong>always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Week One DVD \u2013 Behold Your God This study is not about you and me getting more out of God, but it is about God.\u00a0 Ultimately this leads to our good since thinking correctly about God is very important.\u00a0 To &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1030,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029\/revisions\/1030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}