"Following Hard After God" | Pastor Steve Gaines

take your Bibles and turn to second Samuel Chapter six and just a moment we'll begin reading in verse one everyone is not going to go to heaven everyone who goes to church is not going to go to heaven over the years I've talked with a lot of people who claim to know the Lord and I think I've seen two primary categories the first category would be people who follow Jesus for what they can get out of him the second group are the people who follow Jesus because they love him for who he is the people who are in that first category who follow Jesus or say they do for what they can get out of him focused primarily on him protecting them him providing for them him keeping them and their family healthy but they rarely read their Bible they rarely pray they rarely share the gospel they don't trust the Lord with their finances they don't even think about tithing instead they pile up stuff riches of the world they walk in fear not faith they walk in pride not humility they try to work things out in their own schemes rather than trusting in God like we've just heard this beautiful song wasn't that a beautiful song and the main thing they want is they just don't want to go to hell they just don't want to go to hell it's all about what Jesus can do for them but the second group which is a lot smaller they follow Jesus because they're grateful for his blessings and they genuinely love him they delight in him as the Bible says in Psalm 37 they love to worship the Lord they love to praise the Lord for who he is they love to thank him for what he's already done if he never gave another miracle he's already been good to us has he not they long to see his name honored when somebody curses and uses the name of Jesus they shudder in their soul they pray that the Lord will use them however he wants they're not in charge he's in charge they not only tie it to their church but they give generously to other people as the Holy Spirit prompts them their primary goal in life is to glorify God whatever that means and they discipline themselves for the purpose of godliness they read their Bible to hear the voice of God they pray and they cry out to God nobody has to beg them to show up on Sunday nobody has to beg them to have a place of service in the fellowship it's not about them it's all about the Lord being glorified that first group claims to follow Jesus but really they play at Christianity they attend church when it's convenient as long as their kids don't have a ball game they have heartedly loved the Lord missing church on Sunday doesn't even faze them getting a little drunk doesn't even faze them telling off-color jokes doesn't even faze them they never think about fasting they never think about prayer real prayer crying out to God standing in the gap if persecution comes they'll bail they won't stand there Christianity is convenient cost them nothing no time no commitment no discipline no finances no nothing but that second group which is the group you ought to desire to be in they follow Jesus with a whole heart they stand for Jesus even if nobody else does they stand for the Lord when they wake up they start talking with Jesus they talk with him all day long they go to bed they say good night Jesus they wake up in the night they say how you doing Jesus they love the Lord they're constantly talking with him Jesus is their life on Earth he's their abundant life and in heaven he will be their everlasting life they lived for him if need be they will die for him they're sold out the whole route they follow hard after Jesus they follow hard after Jesus look at that picture on the front of your bulletin see that boy running up the mountain he's following hard after something are you following hard after the Lord half-hearted lackadaisical lukewarm Christian he sends people to hell Jesus said so in the Sermon on the Mount he said in Matthew 7:21 and follow me not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven many everybody say the word many that ought to send chills down your spine many will say to me on that day that day is the day we stand before the Lord and that day is coming Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name gonna be preachers in hell and in your name cast out demons they're gonna be Exorcist in hell and in your name perform many miracles gonna be miracle workers that go to hell then Jesus said I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness King David is a treasure to us all man after God's own heart love the Lord was hungry after the heart of God yes he messed up but I tell most of his life he was hard after God and that's what the church in America desperately needs the American church is fat and lazy and I'm not just talking about overweight on the scales I'm talking about spiritually fat we dine on every Bible study there is we have so many Christian this and Christian that and yet we don't see the power and the anointing of God we need Christians men women boys girls who are following hard after God what's that look like second samuel 6:23 verses let me share with you five things if you want to follow heart after god first of all you must follow god intentionally this will not just happen how many of you know that if you're overweight you don't lose weight accidentally and he may know that somebody say to you how'd you lose weight I don't eat as much as I used to is there another plan is there another way no you got to be disciplined David was disciplined he followed after God intentionally now David verse one again gathered all the chosen men of Israel thirty thousand and David arose and went with all the people who were with him to bail Judah and to bring up there from there the Ark of God which is called by the name the very name of the Lord of Hosts who is enthroned above the chairman for twenty years it had been away from the people of God you might remember when Eli hophni and Phinehas his sons the wicked sons adulterous sons and they went out they fetched the Ark of God and the Philistines captured it and then it was sent to another person's house and for 20 years it stayed there David is coming in he has defeated the Jebusites he has captured Jerusalem he has renamed it now not as just as Jay boos but now it is Jerusalem it is the city of Shalom Salaam there thean is Shalom it's the it's the place where God will live in Shalom it is the place where God will bless people it is the epicenter of the spiritual world in that day where God was moving it's the City of David but it's also the city of Jehovah God and so if it's the city of Jehovah God we need the Ark of God there with the people of God and so he goes to get the Ark of God after 20 years of it being separated from the people of God he was intentional he was on point he had a plan how many of you know the things don't just happen is he might know that every year January I say this year I'm gonna get my taxes in early can I get a witness out there anybody January comes January goes February comes February it goes March comes March goes here it is April April the 15th and I'm all knotted up inside not because I've done anything wrong it's just I just got to get all this stuff together why do we do that to ourselves why do we wait to the last minute on things because we're not disciplined you blame whatever you won't do how many of you know that taxes don't file themselves anybody know that they'll come looking for you if you want to follow hard after God you're gonna have to get real intentional and quit just saying well maybe I'll get around it maybe I'll maybe I'll read my Bible through next year I got off to a bad start this year how many of you know that Bibles don't read themselves how many of you know the prayers don't pray themselves how many of you know that going hard after God means discipline it means intentionality you can't the gospel doesn't share itself people can't disciple themselves I mean there's just some things that we have to do i'm all about the sovereignty of god but aren't news for you we have responsibilities god blesses obedience anybody out there saying he's talking works up there I'm talking obedience God blesses obedience and he punishes disobedience your tithe doesn't give itself you don't accidentally serve the Lord through your church you don't accidentally unintentionally grow in grace all the great Saints in the Bible were intentional King David said in psalm 32 verse 6 therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you now watch this in a time when you may be found surely in a great flood of waters they will not reach him what he's saying is don't wait for a catastrophe like a flood of waters to call on the Lord call on the Lord right now do it intentionally don't just wait till you're in a mess to call on the Lord pray about it and maybe God will keep you out of a mess it is something that God has to give us a tragedy sometime to get our attention man just gonna intentionally follow hard after God Isaiah said basically the same thing in Isaiah 55 he's had seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he sneer let the wicked forsake his way the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to the Lord he will have compassion on him and to our God he will abundantly pardon Jesus said in John 9 verse 4 we must work well we could stop right there and have a sermon amen we must work we must work the works of him who sent us as long as it is day and he said there's a timing here you got to watch it now because he said night is coming when no one can work some of you are just letting your life flitter by you just let it go you think I got more time in fear you don't know if you've got five more seconds you don't know if you've got five more days you're not intentional about life you're not intentional about the spiritual walk you're not intentional about the disciplines of God I'm not getting on to you I'm trying to say to you look while you're living why don't you really live why don't you live intentionally why don't you say I am going to do these things and by the grace of God I am gonna read my Bible I am gonna pray not so I can just say that I pray and read my Bible but so that I can connect with God and I can walk through this world which is lost and is undone and is sinful and it's not really what I'm supposed to be about anyway I can walk through this life with my God speaking to me and talking to me and giving me victory and when other people are discouraged I'm gonna have encouragement because I have disciplined myself for the purpose of godliness and I will walk with God man get intentional about it guys this stuff doesn't just happen and it's not just for preachers it's for everybody that knows the Lord Bible says submit therefore to God resist the devil he'll flee from you draw near to God that takes intentionality draw near to God that's what you have to do draw near to God and He will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners purify your hearts you double-minded folks America is in trouble we are in trouble and you can't just turn the television off and put your head in the sand the church is in trouble everybody that goes to church is not going to heaven and if you want to go to hell you're gonna have to follow hard after God yes I believe in grace but I want to tell you something you better be intentionally following after Jesus repenting of your sins believing in Jesus calling upon his name that takes some doing right there follow hard after God do it intentionally number two you want to follow hard after God you got to do it appropriately there's a way and there's to do it there's a wrong way to do it look at verse 3 they did it the wrong way and everything messed up they placed the Ark of God on a new cart bad idea I'll tell you why in a minute that they might bring it from the house of abinadab which was on the hill and use' and Ohio the son of AB in a DAB were leading the new cart so they brought it with the Ark of God from the house of abinadab which was on the hill in Ohio was walking ahead of the art meanwhile David and all the house Israel were celebrating before the Lord nothing wrong with that with all kinds of instruments made of fir wood and with lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals but when they came to the threshing floor of Nikon user reached out toward the Ark of God and took hold of it bad idea for the office and nearly upset it and the anger of the Lord burned against use' and God struck him down there for his irreverence and he died there by the Ark of God David became angry because the Lord's outburst against user really it was David's fault what happened but he got mad at God how many of you know the lot of times we get mad at God it's our own fault he might know that don't like it raise your hand on that okay I got it and that place is called Perez use' to this day so David was afraid of the Lord that day and he said how can I the Ark of the Lord come to me and David was unwilling to move the Ark of the Lord into the City of David with him but David took it aside to the house of Obed the gittite obed-edom to get tides and this is a great day for obed-edom the gittite I'm gonna tell you something this guy I mean he won it right here he he got the whole blessing right here thus the Ark the Lord remained in the house of obed-edom to get tide three months and the Lord blessed obed-edom in all his houses this is a hard text it's a texts to even talk about here you got God killing somebody because they just touched the Ark and the only reason they touched it is because I didn't want it to fall on the ground and like I said actually this was not users fault he's the guy that died but it was David's fault David ordered that the art be carried back to Jerusalem on a cart pulled by an oxen but the Lord had commanded that in numbers 4:15 the camp will be ready to move when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the sacred articles the KOA thights ah the Levites will come and carry these things to the next destination but they must not touch the sacred objects or they will die so these are the things from the tabernacle that the KOA the KOA thought the priests the Levites could carry the ark and they could only do it with poles on their shoulders so they wouldn't touch it because God said don't touch it you say well why did God not want you know what if God says don't touch it don't touch it he doesn't have to explain to you everything that he does how many of you have let's just get real honest I'm gonna raise my hand if that will help you out how many of you ever you say you've you've disobeyed God you've done something he told you not to do anybody out there all right rest y'all just did so now you can raise your hand how many of you know we're all sinners Amen we all touch things we shouldn't touch say things we shouldn't say do things we shouldn't do have bad attitudes get all full of ourselves don't ask the Holy around here only the kohathites priests we're supposed to do all this they had to serve the Lord the way he commanded I've got a little pet peeve I'll just let you know what it is I don't like it when preachers preach other preachers sermons I don't like that I don't like this thing I've had people contact me so we're putting together a resource for other pastors we want you to send us your sermons and they'll preach them I said you're not gonna preach any of my sermon not if I can say and I'm not giving you I'm not gonna give you an opportunity for them to steal something you know I feel like that cutting and pays now I quote people all the time I try to give them credit I'm not talking about that I'm talking about somebody that doesn't study all week long for whatever reason they just copy and paste on a Saturday night somebody else's sermon they even use their illustrations how weird is that and they preach it like it's theirs you know what that is that's called stealing that's Bible bootlegging amen my daddy would say that ain't right I had oh boy one time we had him in to preach at another church a revival we're going to speak at a youth thing I'm in the back seat one of my staff guys was driving he's sitting up front he turns right I said okay now tell me where do you get your sermons I know what to say or do you get your sermons I said what do you mean he said you know where do you get your sermons I said well I read the Bible and I memorized the Bible and I studied the Bible no what are you talking about it no I'm talking about where do you get what's your source then all of a sudden it dawned on me what he's talking about I said Jesus the Bible and if that's not your source I really don't care to hear what you have to say amen not mad not mad I just don't want any stolen sermons going across the pulpit I told you there's a pet peeve I told you it's not following hard after God it's just not there's a right way to follow the Lord there's a wrong way if God says carry something on a pole get a pole if God says don't touch something don't touch it the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 14 40 let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner you say well I'll get to heaven anyway I want to know you won't know you won't jesus said enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction there are many who enter through it the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are a few who find it you want to get to heaven you're going to go through the narrow gate his name is Jesus he is the only door he's the only way he's the only truth he's the only life he's not just a good way he's not just the best way he is the only way to heaven you can't have your own way when it comes to going to heaven you got to do it by grace through faith Ephesians 2:8 and 9 by grace you've been saved through faith that not of yourself since the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast just do what God says and don't do what God says don't do that's a there's a right way to live by obeying God there's a wrong way to live does anybody remember right and wrong there's a wrong way to live and that is by disobeying God soldiers don't question their officers players don't question their coaches without getting bitched and Christians should not question the word of God just do your just show up and say private gains reporting for duty that's all you got to do every day everybody's in church not going to heaven you got to follow how hard after God and to do that you have to follow God appropriately also if you're gonna follow our heart after God you got to follow God wholeheartedly I mean all out man all out look at verse 12 that was told King David the Lord was blessed it blessed the house of obed-edom and all that belongs to him on account of the ark of god can you just immense old country guy out there and all of a sudden somebody shows up with the Ark of God come on guys think with me a little bit this old country guy obed-edom how'd you like what's your name obed-edom Wow was your mama mad at you when she named you what's goin on Oh Betty them already had a tough time in grade school don't you Amen let's hit him they didn't obed-edom okay so he goes home all of a sudden he looks out here comes the Ark of God he looks around his shoulders working again he starts getting healed he looks out there all of his cattle are doing well his crops are growing great over 20 years he's like this is awesome this is how many of you know it's great to have the Lord in your life amen David saw that and he said oh no no I gotta get that I got to get that art back where it needs to be Oh Betty eating them saying no it's fine right where it is leave it right where it is verse 1 in the King David saying the Lord has blessed the house of obed-edom all that belongs to him on account of the Ark of God you know it represented the presence of God you know what the psalm what David said in Psalm 16 verse 11 he said in your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore if you don't have the Lord you can't really have pleasure in life Kenn verse 12 David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house obed-edom of obed-edom into the City of David with gladness this time David made sure that the Ark was correct was correctly carried no carts no oxen nobody touching it the KOA thoughts showed up the Levites showed up the priests showed up they got their poles and the Bible says they carried in verse 13 look at this and so it was that when the bearers of the Ark of the Lord had gone six paces he sacrificed an ox and a fattening suddenly David got happy now watch out now watch out watch out here comes verse 14 and David was dancing David was dancing before the Lord with all his might and David was wearing a linen ephod so David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the Ark of the Lord was shouting oh and was sounded the trumpet here we see the heart of David here we see David loved to worship the Lord God he was a man after he was going after the heart of God he was following the Lord whole heartedly he didn't care what other people thought he cared what the Lord thought that's what God wants from all of us jesus said in mark 12:30 you must love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength half-hearted Christianity is not worth anything it makes God nauseated revelation three to the Angel of the Church in Laodicea write the Amen the faithful the true witness the beginning of the creation of God says this I know your deeds Church of Laodicea that you are neither cold nor hot I wish you were one way or the other I wish you either hot or cold so because you're lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth literally I'm gonna vomit you out of my mouth what does it matter if you go to church but you don't really love what does it matter some of you have lost your first love today you've left your first love today Christianity is not about rules it's about whole heartedly loving God God that's how God loves you John 3:16 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son you need to pray o God let me love you the way David talked about in psalm 42 as the deer pants for the water Brooks so my soul pants for you when's the last time your soul was panting for God O God my soul thirsts for you for the Living God when shall I come in a beer before God when's the last time you woke up and said can I please appear before can I please spend some time with you in prayer can I please listen to your voice in the word will you please fill me with a when's the last time Bible says if you're gonna do anything do it right please yesterday's 19:00 whatever your hand finds to do do it with all your might jeremiah these are my life verses 29 11 through 14 fraught God said I know the plans I have for you plans for declares the Lord plans for welfare not for calamity to give you a future and a hope then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart not when you're playing around not just when you do throw up some little smoke cloud to me in prayer but when you're really crying out to me and God I I will I will be found by you declares Lord I will restore your fortunes I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you declares Lord and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you in the exile Paul said in Colossians 3:23 whatever you do do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men everybody goes to church not going to heaven you got to follow hard after God that shows that the Holy Spirit's really down in you number 4 if you want to follow heart after God you must follow God unashamedly oh here comes his wife macao look at verse 16 David's wife recall she wasn't a god woman she was the daughter of Saul originally Saul had promised her to David for killing some Philistines and even though he killed the Philistines Saul gave her to another guy but once Saul was dead David sent Abner a killing machine man one of the one of the best soldiers he said you go he said go get my wife and he went he took her back but McCall was not a loving supportive wife look at verse 16 then it happened as the Ark of the Lord came into the city and David that of David that McCall the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord and she's despised him in her heart so they brought in the Ark of the Lord and said it in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord when David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offering he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts further he distributed to all the people to all the multitude of history both to the men and the women a cake of bread and one of dates and one of raisins to each one then all the people departed each to his house David had worshiped the Lord in spirit and in truth he had danced before the Lord he didn't care what people thought but all of that embarrassed the cold heart of his wife McCall look at verse 20 but when David returned how many of you know that sometimes when you worship the Lord you get so close to the Lord somebody is right outside the doors ready to pour cold water on you amen here it is but when David returned to bless this house so McCall the daughter of Saul came in to meet David and said how the King has of Israel has distinguished himself today this is gold-plated sarcasm he uncovered himself today in the eyes of the servants maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers she called the king a fool look at me bad idea so David said to McCall it was before the Lord who chose me above your daddy and above all of his house to appoint me ruler over the people of Israel of the Lord therefore I will celebrate before the Lord I wasn't thinking about people I was thinking about the Lord and I'm not finished if you think I've looked foolish you ain't seen nothing yet verse 32 I'll be more lightly esteemed than this and I will be humble in my own eyes but with those maids whom you have spoken about with them I will be distinguished and the Lord disciplined McCaw McCall the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death she reminds me of a lot of dead churches that get mad when somebody says hey men hallelujah glory to God oh don't raise a hand now don't clap just be real quiet there's a time to be quiet but there's a time to shout there's a time to be calm and there's a time to get happy in Jesus I'm not talking about wildfire but I want to tell you something our churches are asleep where is the fire of God where is the real life we've got too many McCall's and not enough David's we got it too much I had a lady one time we were having a little bit of a revival at my church in Alabama Oh preacher come here come here I thought this is gonna be great okay what yes ma'am she said if my mother could hear us shouting if my mother could hear us clapping our hands off my mother could see these people raising their hand she'd be mortified I said is your mother in heaven she said yes I said she's doing it don't worry about it how many of you know that heaven is a place of celebration amen amen we just want you to know how to act before you get there all right I don't want somebody that were you from Bellevue well we should have known you know how to act amen praise God come on in go over and set by some of that other Bunch amen get them going a little bit Hey Jesus rose from the dead that's something to praise God about Jesus died for all your sins that's something to praise God about no fear in life no guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me jesus said in mark 8 38 whoever is ashamed of me and my words and this adulterous and sinful generation the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his father with the Holy Angels I want to tell you something you'd better get real proud of Jesus real quick you can be ashamed of yourself you can be ashamed of this whole sinful world but don't you ever be ashamed of Jesus follow him unashamedly everybody's going to church not going to heaven well if you want to follow heart after God you'd better follow him intentionally appropriately wholeheartedly unashamedly but one more thing expectantly you say brother Steve we're out of verses I get it but I came up with another one it's called Psalm 23 everybody stand up we're gonna read it together alright I know you got your notes I know you're trying to fill in your blank I know I just messed you up I got it I get it some of y'all still trying to expel expectantly I expect you to hurry up and do it I'm waiting you can expect the God you worship in spirit and in truth to bless you I'm not getting into all the prosperity gospel I'm not talking about all that but how many of you know God is good to those who worship Him amen and you know what you may die for your faith I'd rather die for my faith and live for a lie amen I'd rather be pleasing to God and have people mad at me then have people loving me and God mad at man I want to be like David I want to want God in my I want to want God's presence in my house I want to want God's presence in my life I want to want the ark of God to live in me I want the power of God to work in me I want to do that I want to worship God and one of these days if I break out dancing all right that won't be break out dancing all right but I'm just saying if I were to even get happy enough to do that you know what just I'm not I'm not trying to turn this into a show I'm just trying to tell you something we act crazy at a football game I just I went to one yesterday all right Middle Tennessee beat the tar out of Marshall all right and so I was up there at that game with my grandbabies and to be honest with you I just looked at my grandbabies the whole time all right I've been there done that other stuff every time they say touch now say praise God oh that's good good good this is this one I'm all about right here the people were just shouting and all this stuff and then they come to church man come on up here dear brother yes sir he had his hip replace and God's healing him amen second one in two months amen amen amen amen he said he expected God to do it and God did it amen amen two hips right they're going up there amen Hey look at me brother hey hey turn him around just a minute I just want to tell you this from me I have one too when you go to the airport you're gonna sound off every alarm there is all right amen thank God amen I don't mind that somebody come I'm going to give a testimony you know what church ought to be like it's not scripted amen there's nothing wrong with getting happy in the Lord there's nothing wrong with shouting and saying Amen there's nothing wrong with that there's everything right about that let's read to me some of the greatest words ever spoken and what it's saying is this God's gonna be good to us on this earth but we hadn't seen anything yet well we get that last verse we get to verse six I'm gonna wrap it up with a little bit louder all right let's read it pray it thank God for it say it with me now this key by the way King James is the only way you can read the 23rd psalm is King James amen I'm just telling you I think Jesus spoke it in King James all right y'all know I'm kidding but not quite all right here we go let's read it the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want read it slow he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil say that again I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me now prepares the table before me in the present of mine enemies thou anointest my head with all my cup runneth over now stop here's where it gets good you say it's already good I get it he's about to say now on this earth good things going to happen you hadn't seen anything yet wait till I see heaven and he ends talking about heaven and after that let's just worship God amen alright here's verse 6 here we go surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever and ever and ever praise the Living God hallelujah glory to God I feel like I've had a spiritual bath don't you amen had a Bible bath amen some of y'all thought they'd say what's going on here hey just come to Jesus you'll find out he will give you living water follow follow I will follow Jesus anywhere everywhere I will follow him follow follow I will follow Jesus anywhere he leads me I will follow look at me don't just follow Jesus follow hard after Jesus amen amen father in the name of Jesus amen in the name of Jesus Lord thank you for letting us have this time in your word in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 1,776

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: sWM9I4L3RqA

Length: 43min 28sec (2608 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 08 2019