(Doug Batchelor is BACK!) Knowing The Lord | Doug Batchelor

i want to welcome you if you're visiting the granite bay hilltop church we know that we've got folks that are watching on amazing facts television and facebook and internet and other different venues and it's good to see you here today some are here because they had uh planned in their schedules to be part of our grand opening that was going to be happening today uh so i'm trusting most people know that that's been postponed uh for a little while for a number of reasons but we're just so glad if you are here today pray the holy spirit speaks to you if you did not know the bachelor family in our travels among the children of men we picked up covet and uh so i want to thank you for your prayers and we're all doing fine this has been a few weeks and we're you're all safe i'm probably the safest person in the room right now but because i got to the antibodies but uh karen and nathan did fine i i'll tell you friends i got the industrial strength version uh so i mean it i you know i've been really healthy my whole life and so this is probably sick as i ever was and there are two or three days that uh karen was checking the life insurance policy so so uh but uh really good to be with you today i hope you'll be patient with me uh you know i feel great uh you know matter of fact in some ways i feel better than before i haven't been able to wear this suit in years and so uh you know i feel really good about that i had all these aches and pains from playing racquetball that are gone now because i haven't played in a month but what it does is it it hits your wind and so you'll probably notice a couple times it's going to sound like my billows have shrunk a little bit but i really wanted to share this message with you today it's such an important subject that i i trust the lord will get us through if i run out of air the sermon will be over but in the meantime i'm going to preach the word amen and you'll pray for me along the way this subject of knowing the lord may be the most important thing i've ever talked about i don't know that it'll get a lot of hits on youtube or go viral but either way i'm convinced it's one of the most important things i could ever talk about because it is the life and death issue for the christian you know i i appreciate knowledge i'm fascinated by technology by um just the wisdom and things that are going on in the world you know i'm fascinated with things like nuclear submarines and how people can live six months under water those machines can be powered for years all of that is amazing to me i heard about an experiment some of you may know about it's called itter i-t-e-r and that stands for the international thermonuclear experimental reactor it is the biggest and most ambitious attempt to harness the energy produced by forcing two atoms to become one that's known as fusion the 25 billion dollar experiment in france is a joint project of the european union china india japan south korea russia and the us it's a large scale international project parts are made all across the world and they come together and they have to fit together like a puzzle and it has to work the ultimate goal is for it to do what no fusion experiment has done before produce more heat than it consumes the challenge is essentially to build a miniature star inside a laboratory and then control it the heart of the experiment i catch this friends is a 23 000 ton cylinder where intense superconducting magnets will try to keep a 150 million degree did you catch that 150 million degrees celsius plasma contained long enough for fusion to occur they're basically trying to reproduce what the sun does in this building they expect the budget to go from 25 to 64 million they're way over budget now by the way it will not be a generator when they're done it's an experiment if it works then they want to move on to build reactors that can help power the world with clean almost unlimited energy i looked at the science of that and i'm not going to go into it all i'll just tell you that by the way sometimes a pastor might get fusion and fission mixed up this is fusion is very important if we get it mixed up it doesn't matter if the nuclear scientists get it mixed up we're done for but there's a difference between the fission and the fusion but this thing is basically going to have the the explosion of a sun 25 what did i say there 150 million degrees going on magnets big enough to pick up a battleship that knowledge to me is astounding it's astounding that they could do something like that i'd love to go to the international space station i love technology but you know the bible tells us in the last days people run to and fro in knowledge will increase and i don't think anybody here is going to contest that knowledge has exploded the question is what kind of knowledge you could work on a nuclear reactor and come home and yell at your wife is that knowledge the right kind of knowledge i believe in you know science and medicine and technology and uh you know i'm fascinated by philosophy and and psychology we get to watch that department a little bit but uh all of that knowledge is wonderful but it's not the most important knowledge the most important knowledge is to know god and sometimes i'll have to be honest with you friends i wonder if there's something wrong with me because i watch people going through their lives and they seem indifferent about the most important thing they could know and think lord is there something wrong with me why is it for me the most important thing in the world would be to know god if there's a god and he made everything that all the nuclear fission reactors are made out of why would we not want to know him that to me would be the ultimate joy the ultimate goal is to know god you see we've been separated from god because of sin before sin adam and eve could talk to god like i'm talking to you they knew god he walked and talked with them in the garden it was a very personal thing but then because of sin man lost a whole dimension there are angels in this room god said he's in this place but we've been cut off from that and it's like we stop believing in it we believe in wireless everyone here believes in wireless some are using it right now i mean we can't see it but we believe in it the spiritual world is just as real and god wants to be known by us nothing is more important than that and yet it seems like the world is so diff indifferent to it i saw a bumper sticker years ago it said maybe it'll be on the screen here yeah there it is no god no life no god no life i know carlos is in the back translating and that did not work for him just now but he'll fix it i know he will but in english of course no god no life but if you know god you will know life this is eternal life that you might know him now the world's preoccupied with knowledge but it's often the wrong kind of knowledge and you know i think it's good to pursue knowledge you read proverbs it's pretty clear but if you pursue every earthly field of knowledge and you you neglect knowing god you've lost it all that has to be the priority jeremiah 9 23 thus says the lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdom and let not the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches but let him who glories glory in this don't miss that word glory that he understands and knows me you know if you're going to be proud of knowing something be thankful that you know god i know that um there's a lot of people out there that have much much better theological training than i do i cannot speak greek hebrew aramaic but i praise god that i know god and i think that if you know everything else theologically but you don't know god then you're in that class of people where the lord is going to say i'm sorry i don't know you but lord we preached in your streets and we taught and we cast out devils and did many wonderful works what good is all of that if you don't know god first corinthians 3 19 for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with god i remember reading about mark twain and he was a very brilliant speaker had an incredibly creative mind he went through some tragedies in life where he basically turned away from god his brother died and burnt in a riverboat explosion and a lot of other tragedies and he just he thought god burned people in hell forever and ever and like others it just he turned away from god became pretty much an agnostic well he was a good speaker great writer lost almost all of his money through bad business investments he invested in some type setting machine for years and just lost almost everything so he had to go on the road speaking to make money and he went on tours across america went to europe and and he became incredibly famous it was very successful and as he was traveling around europe people were just so entertained with his wit and his humor that he was invited to the palaces and the parliaments and he was meeting everybody kings and queens all across europe in this very triumphant tour and his daughter was with him and she was so proud of her dad she said papa said soon you're going to know everybody except god and he did he knew everybody but if you don't know god what good is it philippians chapter 3 verse 7 listen to paul's priority but what things were gained to me these i have counted lost for christ yet indeed i count all things for loss for listen the excellence of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord for whom i've suffered the loss of all things and i count them as rubbish that i might gain christ and jump to verse 10 that i might know him and the power of his resurrection friends do you have that hunger if you didn't start today i sure hope you do at the end that you might know god don't you want to know him better i mean what could be more precious than that the supreme goal in life in my estimation is to know god and his love and share god and his love this church exists for those goals to know god and his love and to share god and his love everything else is secondary so is it the priority in your life solomon god said lord the lord said to solomon what do you want said i want wisdom that of course was after he became king before that before solomon died he was having a talk and a walk with his father and david appealed to his son it's one of the rare cases where david was still alive and his son was coronated king and it says as for you by the way first chronicles 28 8 i won't have all the scriptures on the screen but i think i have this one first chronicles 28 9 rather as for you my son solomon know the god of your father and serve him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind for the lord searches all the hearts and understands the intents of the thoughts if you seek him he will be found by you but if you forsake him he will cast you off forever now you realize of course knowing god is different than knowing about god what we're talking about today is not knowing stuff about god we're talking about knowing him having a personal relationship with him where you're you're talking to him this is how it describes enoch it says he walked with god he had that personal relationship it also says that by the way about noah noah walk with god the people who live in the last days are going to be a people the ones who succeed in the last days who walk with god now when you think about it it's almost outrageous that i would be suggesting that to you that you and i could know god because in in reality i mean you and i we can't even comprehend how big the sky is and how vast the universe is isaiah 55 9 for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways than your ways and my thoughts and your thoughts i mean how can you and i possibly know god and yet he wants us to know him you'll never come to the place where you know everything about god it's like thomas edison who said we only know one millionth part of one percent of about anything we only know one millionth of one percent about anything and if you're middle age you've probably learned that the longer you live the more you know you don't know isn't that right there is a time when you peak as a teenager and you think you've got it figured out but from there you realize and something else happens is though the longer you live the more you realize your parents knew it's a strange dynamic that occurs romans 11 33 oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of god how unsearchable are his judgments in his ways past finding out so when we talk about knowing god it's not that you're going to know everything about god his ways are past finding out but he wants to have a personal loving relationship with you and he uses the most tender examples a father and a child a mother and its baby jesus uses the example of a friend and this is how he wants to know you now there's a story in the bible about moses and he probably had one of the closest relationships with god of anybody you can read about and you read in exodus 33 and this is after the whole terrible golden calf debacle god was going to wipe out the children of israel make a nation of moses and moses said lord hey if i could ask something special let me tell you what i want don't make a nation out of me but he articulates in exodus 33 18. he says please he asks politely show me your glory now what did he mean by that you ever wondered if you could see an angel what would it do for your faith if you could like see an angel first of all it ought to scare you because you don't know if it's a good angel or a bad angel of what he's up to right but if you can see an angel or something like that i mean just think about the power of that i've often thought oh lord if i you know just little miracles things that will strengthen my faith but to say lord show me your glory did he want to see a bright light no he's saying reveal yourself to me i want to know you pull aside the veil lord i want to be with you and god understood his request he said all right moses i can do that for you i will appear to you you won't be able to look me straight in the face because no man can do that and live then you go to exodus 34 where it actually happens and it says the lord descended in a cloud and stood with him there can you imagine standing by god the lord stood by moses and he proclaimed now god speaks the lord the lord merciful and gracious long-suffering abounding in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and by no means clearing the guilty he revealed his character now there's no comment that moses made that said you know his fingernails were really long he had three tattoos on his left bicep and there's none of that it doesn't describe anything about him physically what it does is it describes who he is in his character so when you and i are saying we want to know the lord it's not that we want to know what color his hair is or wanting to know what his characteristics are who is he you know when you fall in love with somebody you're falling in love with their character if you're falling in love with the external that lasts a little while but you know those things fade over time the character can actually get better while the outward man grows old the bible says show me your glory now when we're talking about knowing god let's just settle something in case you have any question god already knows us isn't that right psalm 139 verse 1 david said o lord you have searched me and known me you know my sitting down and i rising up you understand my thoughts are far off you comprehend my path and my lying down you're acquainted with all my ways for there's not a word on my tongue but behold lord you know it all together god not only knows what you said he knows what you're going to say he knows what you're going to say before you say it jeremiah 1 5 before i formed you in the womb i knew you even before you're born god knew you and you go to jeremiah 12 3 but you o lord know me you've seen me and you've tested my heart towards you john 1 47 when jesus saw nathanael coming he said behold an israelite in whom there is no deceit now they'd never met and nathanael said lord how do you know me of course he didn't know jesus was god at that point but he's saying lord how do you know me and jesus said off before philip called you when you were under the fig tree he had been under the fig tree praying about the messiah he said i saw you there of course christ sees all of us all the time he knows everything about us and zacchaeus is up in a tree jesus says the key has come down they've never met the lord knows us some of you spent half of your lives you didn't know god you weren't a christian you weren't a believer but god knew you and he had a plan for your life he's always known you so as we talk about knowing the lord the part of the relationship that has a problem is adam ran from god you and i don't know him he knows everything about everybody second timothy 2 19 nevertheless the solid foundation of god stands having the seal the lord knows those that are his and let everyone who names the name of christ depart from iniquity jesus said the good shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know the shepherd and then john 2 25 the bible says christ had no need that anyone should testify of man for he knew what was in man god knows all about us unfortunately the big problem in the world and some in the church is that people really don't want to know god when you think about it it's crazy you know i i'm amazed how often i see people surfing their phones we did a an amazing fact in the philippines we were sitting in front of a um a mall and we were doing something on cell phones more texting i think happens in the philippines than any other country in the world that was the amazing fact and we talked about the guy who had the record speed for texting but while we were videotaping this i saw a mall with hundreds of young people and they were all lined up sitting on these benches and these planters and they all had their phones and their elbow to elbow with each other but they're not looking at each other and they're all looking on the phones they're probably texting the person next to them any of you ever text your spouse in the room the house and and i see them all doing this and they're all searching and they're all and i'm thinking to myself what are they looking for sadly most people are not looking for god we're all searching people have this vacuum in our hearts and they're wanting to know god but most of the world is not interested job 21 11 they send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance they sing to the tambourine and the harp they rejoice to the sound of the flute they spend their days in wealth and in a moment they go down to the grave yet they do not say yet they say to god depart from us for we do not desire the knowledge of your ways that's describing most of the world interested with the pleasures of this life before they go to the grave they say god don't bother us we don't desire the knowledge of your ways that sums it up friends right there so much of the world just doesn't want to know god they're afraid he's going to interfere with their plans but how sad what plan could really matter if god's not part of it john 3 19 the lord said this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil i don't want to know the lord it might be convicting romans 1 28 there's a lot of verses i could pick paul said and even as they did not like to retain god in their knowledge they want to know everything in the world about everything but the most important thing god gave them up to a debased mind to do those things that are not fitting because they do not have a desire for the knowledge of god like the pharaoh you know by the way not knowing god is fatal if you didn't realize that pharaoh said who is the lord that i should let israel go i know not the lord neither will i let israel go and he was enslaving people like the devil hosea 4 6 my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge and notice right there you said people are destroyed for lack of knowledge it's not that god's destroying people because they don't know notice that next part of the verse because you have rejected knowledge it's not just that they don't know they don't want to know so many people are lost not because they don't know but they don't look jesus said seek and you'll find and god wants to be sought after he said if you search for me you'll find me jeremiah 29 13 if you search for me with all of your heart it's like david said to solomon if you seek for him he'll be found of you so god wants us to know him but he must be pursued you know if a man spots a young lady and she gets his attention and he thinks she'd be a great prospect i think i'll propose well if they don't know each other that's not going to go very well he's got a pursuer amen how's that happen try and get to know them spend some time communicate find out what their personality is little by the little you reveal who you are hopefully they'll like that and so you uh develop a relationship well god wants to know us and keep in mind when we're talking about knowing god the bible says adam knew eve and she had a baby and so in the hebrew mind knowing someone is about as intimate as it gets it means it's a love relationship it's personal and god wants to have that love relationship with you jesus said not everyone that says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom it's not the religious trappings on the outside but he that does the will of my father in heaven many will say to me in that day lord lord have we not prophesied in your name any name we've cast out devils and done many wonderful works in your name and he'll declare to them i never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness now we're going to say more about that in a minute what does it mean to know the lord one thing it definitely means is that you do not practice lawlessness because you know him and you don't want to hurt him on the other hand you look at the sons of eli first samuel 2 12 the sons of eli were corrupt they did not know the lord so knowing god is going to at least for one thing mean that you know what his will is you know what he wants now i've spent some time kind of setting this up i want to talk to you now how do we know god i got five points how do we know god i'm gonna try and make it easy they're all w wonders you know through his word his ways his witness and his worship you'll see him up on the screen i think but i'll repeat him again wonders word ways witness worship we know him through his wonders psalm 19 verse 1. the heavens declare the glory of god and the firmament shows his handiwork day unto day the utter speech and night under night they reveal knowledge through the things that god made he reveals himself if you want to know god the earth is full of the glory of god you look around i mean to me i'm embarrassed that i used to believe in evolution because now i look around i just see god in everything i just all the inner working systems and in nature and and science and the things that happen in life this is like i have god sightings all the time and creation is one of the places we see that you look in the book of job 12 7 but ask now the beasts and they will teach you and the birds of the air and they will tell you or speak to the earth and it will teach you and the fish of the sea will explain to you who among all of these does not know that the hand of the lord has done this in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind the creatures that you look at you look up in the sky at night look at the birds in the sky you look in the water if you can scuba dive you look on the the land you look around look at the animal kingdom there's so many wonders in the world we can know god you can learn a lot about god through what he made the one who opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing and how the the symbionic relationships in nature just it's such a wonder and that's your creator you know through his word now these are not in the order of priority i just did it the way i did it jeremiah 31 33 and this is one that bears some emphasis but this is the covenant that i will make with the house of israel after those days says the lord i'll put my law in their minds and i'll write it in their hearts i will be their god and they will be my people no more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man is brother saying know the lord for they will know me from the least of them to the greatest all right notice that this is the covenant that saves it's a new covenant by the way it's in the old testament this is also repeated in hebrews 8 10-12 the new covenant is all about knowing god and how does he say that what is the evidence that they know god i put my law in their minds in their hearts so if you want to know god what's one of the most important ways you can know god christ in you the hope of glory well how do you get christ in you he is the word incarnate as you're reading your bible you're getting to know him and you know who he's like and he speaks to you through his word jesus said john 5 39 you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life these are they that testify of me you want to know the lord this is a love letter from god you know it's amazing that people used to fall in love long distance before the internet i know some folks that they did all or their dating through letters and for me that seems like it would be a lot of work but when i was at summer camp they used to make me write home and it would say dear mom how are you i'm fine having fun love doug this is the same card every week because they made you write your parents because writing was anyway but you know people written some beautiful eloquent letters and they fall in love with who the person is even though they're not there with them because they feel like they're getting the essence of their heart and so as you read the bible you're getting the essence of god's heart that just popped into mind years ago there was a um a story i don't know if any of you ever heard of cyrano de bergiac yeah it's certainly a classic story about this man in france and he was a brilliant guy extremely eloquent very brave best swordsman in the country the story it's not true but he had a very big nose i mean enormous he fell in love with i think a second cousin named roxanne but he thought she'll never have anything to do with me because i'm just playing old ugly well roxanne was smitten with this actor she saw on the stage one day and his name was christian and that guy was an imbecile but he could read a script and he was good-looking christian goes the cyrano i'm truncating the story and he said you know i'd like to write her a letter but i don't know what to say she's a sophisticated woman and and cyrano this is a chance for me to talk about my love for her so he begins to write love letters to roxanne signs christian's name she falls madly in love with christian that not only is he good looking i've never heard such prose and romance and such eloquence and later she he has to talk to her face to face and she thought what happened a knucklehead because that's not the word they use in the story but then cyrno tries to redeem the relationship he stands outside her balcony at night actually uses his voice she thinks she's talking to christian from her balcony and he says all these things when's her heart back again well it's this ugly guy out there but she's so smitten with who he is in his his heart and his words at the end of the story finally she finds out who it really was and they declare their love for each other and he dies of course because it's a tragedy but anyway i think there was a lesson in there somewhere about knowing that you know it's who the person is so when you read the bible you know we don't know really the bible goes a great length saying don't make an idol don't try and figure out what i look like i want you to know who i am and jesus wants to reveal himself to you he's a person you are made in the image of god we all got personality because we get that concept from god he's got the ultimate good personality you know i think it's in the book desire of ages to know god is to love him if you know god you will love him you know all the problems you and i have with obedience are because we don't love him enough if you loved him better you would obey him better so if you want to serve him better you've got to know him better how's that going to happen through the wonders through the word how much time you take with the word i think a lot of you probably pretty well versed in politics right now and we'd have a real interesting discussion if i asked your opinion on the vaccine that's been a very polarizing uh i was amazed how much email i got i had no idea how politically polarizing that is among christians not just our church all christians and the whole society i better change subject right away just get away from that but people know all kinds of things folks spend a lot of time reading the paper and surfing the internet how much time do you spend seeking after god wanting to know him so we know him through his word jesus said you search the scriptures they testify of me luke 24 the bible says begin it in moses and all the prophets by luke 24 27 beginning at moses all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself that's jesus by the way no new testament's even written he says all of it new and old testament you want to know who he is he reveals himself and you got to take time to get to know him if there's some effort involved if you study to become an expert in any field it's because you invested time in learning well if you want to know god this is one of the principle ways you're going to get to know him through his word christ said first john 3 6 whoever abides in him does not sin whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him so the way that we've got the victory over the sin is by knowing him how are we going to know through the word we know him through his ways through the providence of god now time does not permit for me to take you through the bible i mean i could talk about the incredible providence you see in the book of esther you can see the hand of god working in such marvelous ways doesn't make itself clear right away but when you get to the end of the book you look back and say wow look at how god delivered his p people through his ways you see god's hand do you see him in your life have you gone through experiences before and you wonder why did this happen you look back and say praise the lord i i could see that he was working in the background all things together for the good of those that love him you look i'll take for example the story of joseph i mean poor joseph he was the beloved son of a father sold by his brother he's a good kid he said too much about his dreams but other than that he's a good kid that doesn't record him doing anything wrong jealousy selling he becomes a slave for years and here he had been pampered son of a wealthy nomad and then he's falsely accused he does the right thing he serves god and in spite of being pure and noble and honest he's falsely accused of a terrible crime and put in prison for years the best years of his life you might think is youth in his teen years a slave and a prisoner you could become really bitter if you want to going through something like that joseph knew god and he believed that god had a destiny for him that's what all those dreams were about he didn't know how it was going to work out but i think he trusted god and he said i don't know why i'm here right now but where lord if i'm going to be his servant i'm going to be the best servant i can be and god blessed him he said if i'm going to be a prisoner i'm going to be the best prisoner i can be and god bless them in the prison and then something marvelous happened with the pharaoh's dreams and in one day joseph goes from the prison to the palace and he becomes the prime minister of the most powerful kingdom in the world years later of course he you know the story reconnects with his brothers and i want to get to heaven and see their faces when he says i am joseph i want to see the video of that or dvd i don't know what they're using up there but listen to what joseph says in genesis 45 joseph says to his brothers please come near to me they were terrified when he said i'm joseph so they came near he said i am joseph first time they're hearing them speak in hebrew he had been talking to him in egyptian he said i am joseph your brother who you sold into egypt but now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves i can just hear jesus saying that to you and me he said look i don't want to be you'd beat up on yourself i died because of you but this was part of god's plan do not be angry or grieve with yourselves because you sold me here for god sent me before you to preserve life and god sent me to preserve your posterity for you and the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance so now it was not you who sent me but god so we get to know god through his ways look for his ways through his witness one point number four now if you're counting second corinthians 4 6 for it is god who commanded the light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ we know god through sharing god so we not only know god in looking for god as a person but god is saying look if you want to really know me then don't just try to you know shower me with words of love show love to your brother and you will get to know me and it's in our interaction and practicing the love of god with people we get to know him better did that make sense and so you know when christ sends us out to do mission part of what's happening is not just that you're reaching others but he is reaching you as you try to reach others he is revealing himself to you as you you try to reach others i learn so much more about god being involved in ministry and even as i stand before you like now and i'm teaching and preaching god speaks to me and he's revealing things to me as i try to be a channel to you so you will come to know god better in your witness the bible says how many of you want to be spirit-filled you're spiritual why are you going to be spirit-filled i will give you my spirit that you might be my witnesses and so he says look i'm going to reveal myself to you that it might go through you to others and so as you say lord jeremiah sent me you are opening yourself up to knowing him better because he wants to go through you to others and you read stories in the bible like the the good samaritan you know you got three characters four characters the guy that fell among thieves and you got a levite you got a priest and you got a samaritan which one of the three knew god it was the despised samaritan that clearly knew god because he showed love and compassion for someone else see what i'm saying and i think that the lord even revealed himself to uh him more through that experience so for the believer the purpose of life our mission is to know god and to make him known you've probably heard that before we want to know god and make him known so he's known also through his witness and then finally how do we know god oh wait i want to give you another verse on the other one before i leave that point first john 4 20 if someone says i love god and he hates his brother he's a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen how can he love god who he he has not seen so one of the ways we demonstrate that we know god is by what by loving our brothers we say i know god and we hate each other you don't know god amen all right and then finally we know him through his worship god reveals himself to us through worship now knowing god is not just god talking to you through his word knowing god is you're talking to him when you come and you sing his praises when you come just to talk about how worthy he is that's where you get the word worship you come to adore him because you love him he reveals himself to you in the in the uh experience of worship you get to know him better ephesians 3 17 this is a great verse that christ might dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have be able to comprehend catch this with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height and to know the love of christ which passes knowledge that you might be full filled with the fullness of god what a magnificent verse that we might know the love of god in that way i think about isaiah when he was there in the presence of god he heard the angels worshiping god saying holy holy holy in that context of worship there in heaven isaiah finally saw himself and he repented and he went through a dramatic conversion experience but it was in the experience of worship that that happened and we often come to know him in that experience not just public but private worship and the book steps to christ page 98 there's a great quote pray in your closet as you go about your daily labor let your heart often be lifted up to god it was thus that enoch walked with god these silent prayers rise like precious incense it's an attitude of worship before the throne of grace satan cannot overcome him whose heart is thus stayed upon god you will be safe if you live in an attitude of worshiping god we don't just worship god once a week people sometimes accuse seventh-day adventists oh yeah you guys just worship god once a week we don't believe that do we no we gather together we rest once a week in corporate worship but we're to worship god every day we're to walk with god and worship god all the time and you know him through worship so what do you gain if you know god everything this is eternal life christ said that they might know thee the only true god everything hinges on knowing him look at psalm 46 verse 10 be still and know that i am god you can actually swap that around know that i'm god and you'll be still it works that way too and there's another verse to prove that matthew 11 27 all things have been delivered to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father nor does anyone know the father except the son that was kind of discouraging no one knows the son except the father jesus i want to know you keep reading no one knows the father except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him moses said lord show me your glory and god said yes we say jesus show me your glory show me the glory of the father will he will he listen to you he wants to reveal himself to you you know what the next verse said come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i'll give you rest where does that rest come from knowing god now knowing god is also comforting because if you know him and you know his love and you know he's your friend uh have you ever had a friend in high places it can be really great if you're in trouble and you got a friend in high places i got pulled over by a highway patrolman once and uh there in the dark he shined his flashlight in my face he said pastor doug i won't tell you what i was doing but he felt it necessary to slow me down and he had been going to an evangelistic meeting that i had been doing at a town nearby and i thought praise the lord for friends in high places and so i got a warning of grace and going through this recent health challenge i and i so appreciate you know the health workers that are doing their their very best but let's face it sometimes you go to the hospital and folks line up i don't know if you've had an emergency room experience before appraisal i wasn't hospitalized but karen took me to emergency and they did x-rays and sent me home but you know they're just kind of churning people through the best they can and uh sent me home with an over-the-counter prescription prescription for over-the-counter i thought here i'm dying i thought i was i wasn't but i'm just a baby and but i was sick karen can i have an amen he was just sick and i felt like i was just trapped in the system but then i remembered i got some friends in high place i got on my phone i thought i'm calling dr so-and-so and dr so-and-so and dr so-and-so i call three or four doctors men and women friends of mine that are way up in the system and man they got on the phone they called the drugstore all sudden things were happening within an hour everything i need i had because i had some friends i'm sorry if you don't have those friends i can't tell you their names but it was wonderful and everything began to turn around right away because i was able to get the personal treatment that i thought i needed for my particular problems but i think we all know it's wonderful to have friends in high places the book of james chapter 2 verse 23 and the scripture was fulfilled that says abraham believed god and it was accounted to him for righteousness catch this and he was the friend of god is god your friend exodus 33 the lord spoke to moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend wouldn't you like to have that experience friends or god speaks to you face to face like that acts 13 22 and he gave testimonials that i found david the son of jesse a man after my own heart that you could just be tied heart to heart with jesus as your friend you know you hear it all the time you grow up and sometimes i think we get callous and it just goes over heads people say do you know the lord as your savior is he your lord and savior do you know the lord and he said yeah i know the lord you leave me alone and then you ask yourself in your quiet moments do i really know him do you have that person do you walk and talk with him do you run into situations and you say lord i know what you want me to do because i know you i know what you want me to do in this situation that i think is a pretty good definition of what it means hebrews 4 14 seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed through the heavens jesus the son of god let us hold fast our confession for we don't have a high priest that cannot sympathize with our weakness but he was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin let us therefore boldly come to the throne of grace god wants to save you he would not go through everything he went through to save you if you couldn't be saved he loves you desperately the lord wants to love you all right let me say that differently the lord wants to have a loving knowing relationship with you a thousand times more than you do he longs for you to long after him now this is an especially important subject i started out telling you that for the last days because the ones who are going to succeed in the last days and do the greatest work are the ones who know god daniel 11. you know that's in last chapters of daniel daniel 11 32 those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery but the people who know their god will be strong and carry out great exploits who's going to do the work in the last days those that know god they've got that personal relationship now before i tie it off i should mention you're never going to come to the place where you say bingo got it i know god i'm good it's something that is ongoing even through eternity there'll always be bottomless resources of god you'll never be able to plumb i mean we'll always be learning about god but hosea 6 3 let us know let us pursue the knowledge of the lord always we should be pursuing god first peter 2 2 and 3. now i'm going to put two verses together but i want you to catch this as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you might grow thereby now look at ii peter 3 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of the lord and savior jesus christ we grow through the sincere milk of the word be growing in the knowledge all the time knowing him better and better and better how many of you married somebody you thought you knew who you married you know i'm going gonna finish this but then you found that after a while you didn't know them as well as you thought but as you're married longer you get to know them more and the more you're with them and as the years go by you know them better and better and better now in marriages it may not always be good but in your relationship with god knowing it better is always going to be better it's going to be good knowing them more is going to always be an upgrade because he's going to reveal his glory to you and his goodness and his love you know i'm always touched by some of these incredible reunions people that love each other that are separated by circumstances uh it happens a lot with soldiers where you know they're deployed and they're in a foreign country and for sometimes you know months or even years they may not be with their family and then it's great when there's a surprise you know mom and the kids don't know but some of the relatives know that dad's coming home and she's out on the soccer field and uh all of a sudden in the middle of the game it's all prearranged where dad swaps places with a goalie and his daughter comes up to kick a goal and there's dad it's your scream and she runs the hugger dad and the mom comes to hug the dad and the dog comes running over the field and he's doing back flips because he knows the dad and there's this reunion because there's been this separation from someone they know and love and it's so wonderful to be reunited you know i think about the story in the bible where joseph is separated from his father for 30 something years this is his beloved son father thinks he's dead for years he finds out he's alive and can you imagine the joy it says he fell on his neck and he kissed him a long time this love this reunion the bible tells us that when you get to heaven it's going to be special for those that love the lord because then we will see him face to face he wants to have that love relationship with you now and if you have that you're going to be yearning and longing after your time with god because uh nothing is more precious than that the reason we exist friends is to know god and to make him known other knowledge might have value but if you don't have that as your priority you to lose everything he that has the son has life this is eternal life that they might know thee how many of you want to know him better amen we're going to sing about it i'll invite our singers to come up i think the orchestra is going to help we're going to sing more about jesus if you've got a hymnal here it's 2 45 invite you to stand and we'll pray at the conclusion [Music] more about jesus [Music] is [Music] is jesus [Music] me [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] lord jesus [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] who died for me amen you sound good lord this is our prayer these words we believe we're not just singing them we want to know you every day we want more of you lord help us do our part through our lives to seek you as the most important truth person our friend our savior our king and i pray that you'll reveal yourself to us lord that we can be transformed by that revelation bless each person here i know that uh both those that are watching those that are here there's always a broad spectrum of challenges we know through all these things you're trying to reach us reach others through us and often both lord we pray for the holy spirit to be on your church help us be witnesses in the world right now bless us as we go from this place with your presence in christ's name we ask amen god bless you friends please remember that we'll be having our happy deacons

Channel: Doug Batchelor

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Length: 62min 0sec (3720 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021