The Pursuit of God – Review of Chapters 1-7

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Wednesday 05/18/16 

Series: The Pursuit of God

Message –  Review of Chapters 1-7

Click here for the Video

{The audio this week began several minutes into our time together.}

 

For Discussion

Chapter 1: Following hard after God

John 6:44,

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

  • The impulse to pursue God originates from Him.
  • God is a personality – He has a mind, will and emotions as we have and has revealed Himself to us knowable as a person.
  • Following hard after God is often replaced by religious exercise. Without inwardly responding to the inward desire to draw near God our spiritual lives are like an old testament altar with no fire upon it.

Chapter 2: The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

  • God’s gifts to us have replaced Him in the inner sanctum of our hearts.
  • God gave Isaac to Abraham and had to challenge that devotion on the altar in order to free Abraham’s heart from the deadly sin of replacing The God of gifts with the gifts He gives.
  • Each Christian can make the same journey to possessing nothing as did Abraham BUT the journey will be long or short based upon our level of self-pity. If we will devotedly seek out and require the death of all things with which we replace God our time of suffering will be minimized. If we cling to our idols through pity of self, our journey and suffering will be unnecessarily long.

Chapter 3: Removing the Veil

Rev. 4:11,

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

  • God has created us for Himself and our inner lives are to be lived in their entirety “behind the veil” in the presence of God.
  • Today’s Christianity has accepted this as a “positional” truth rather that an immediate reality we are to live in.
  • The flesh is the “veil” and God’s manifest presence is only obtainable as we set aside the things of the flesh and move into His presence.

Chapter 4: Apprehending God

  • When we are called by God to come near to Him, what hinders us?
  • The one who may be called the friend of God is spiritually minded – they are as (if not more) aware of the spiritual world than the natural world and live their lives in the light of that awareness. Without this, one will simply fall prey to everyday events without much acknowledgement of God because they have not cultivated a real awareness of Him in their daily and practical lives. Their faith is religion.

Chapter 5: The Universal Presence

Ps. 27:8,

“When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.”

  • God is present everywhere – but experienced by precious few.
  • Those who have experienced Him held something in common which Tozer called spiritual receptivity. This simply means that when they felt the inward longing for God, they DID something about it. The developed the lifelong habit of spiritual response to His advance.

Chapter 6: The Speaking Voice

Ps. 46:10,

“Be still and know I am that I Am God,…”

(Which is to say, “Let go of control and come to know Me relationally by experiencing Me in reality.”)

  • God is always speaking, why is it then that we hear so very little?
  • Most of the time we spend our religious lives asking God to speak while inwardly we are honestly hoping He will not.
  • God’s speaking voice is the reality our souls were birthed into and we spend all our lives with our fingers in our ears and blindfolds upon our eyes muttering “Its not so…it cannot be so”. One of the effects of the Voice of God since the fall of man, is we find it unsettling and respond by hiding or covering ourselves from full view. What ways do you tend to do this? Why?
  • Tozer believes that most of our artistic expressions find their root in mans response to the inward awareness of God’s voice. It is a way of responding without making it personal. What are your thoughts about this?

Chapter 7: The Gaze of the Soul

Heb. 12:2,

“Looking unto Jesus the Author and Developer of our Faith.”

  • Faith is the result of the soul’s gaze upon God.
  • Faith is NOT a once-done act, but the hearts CONTINUAL gaze upon God.
  • What does this tell us about relationship with God?
  • Our church experience is what it is based upon our personal experience with God. Church cannot compensate for a lack in personal devotion to and experience of God.
  • Why do you think it is that faith pleases God?

 

Blessings! 

 

This is where we ended our discussions on chapter 6 , The Speaking Voice of A.W. Tozer’s book, The Pursuit of God. We will most likely be teaching a lesson By Request next Wednesday…Blessings! 

I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

You have a special place in God’s family & kingdom. If you do not know Him, please use our ‘Contact Us‘ page and reach out so we may have the privilege of introducing you to the Lord. Attendance at our church will NOT even be mentioned nor will money.

If you have been spiritually fed by this ministry and wish to give, we truly appreciate that and you may do so here, but all outreaches of this ministry are FREE for you and anyone to enjoy at no cost.

 

Blessings!

 

Pastor Mark

View posts by Pastor Mark

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!