God With Us: Week 2 - In the Wilderness

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Life Church where we are one Church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world thanks to what God is doing at church online if you ever have any questions or you want to learn more about us as a church you can always check us out online simply by going to Life Church we'd love for you to stay connected throughout your week and everywhere you go with the Life Church app it's free and available wherever you download your apps from but right now let's join up with our senior pastor Craig Groeschel for his message called God with us [Applause] [Music] on the mountain in the valley in the crowded streets or the empty desert in her soul and in our waiting we are never alone [Music] [Music] hey I wonder if there's anybody today a little bit excited to hear from God's Word at all of our churches I hope this you guys are we are in part two of a message series that's called God is with us God with us and what we're doing is we're looking at the different ways that we can encounter the presence of God in different seasons in our lives and what we're doing is we're letting a text from the New Testament be an anchor for us for those of you that are followers of Christ this is one of the most important verses that really solidify our faith and believing in the presence of God and this is the verse that during Christmas Eve services I'm going to teach on this one in particular but I want to use it as a place to start our study today Matthew's Gospel chapter 1 verse 23 Matthew said look the Virgin will conceive a child shall give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel which what does it mean let's all say it aloud which means God is with us our series is called God with us and we looked last week about how we experienced the presence of God in the valley if you are with us we talked about the truth that we often enjoy God on the mountaintops but we experience him intimately in the valley today what I want to do is I want to talk about another metaphor from Scripture and that is the wilderness how do we experience God's presence in the wilderness the wilderness is different from the valley because time in the wilderness usually lasts a lot longer the wilderness is a barren place a dry place a desolate place where you feel very alone one of the images often found in the wilderness is wandering through the wilderness we're wondering when in the world is this going to be over we're wondering when are we going to get out of the wilderness some of you right now you might be in some type of a wilderness you're stuck in this job and you're wondering should I stay in this job or should I go back to school and then I may have to go into a student loan but I may have a better job I'm kind of stuck in this place should I stay or should I do something different I'm I'm renting a house and I wonder should I buy a house I'm not getting any equity but if I do that I may get transferred I just don't know and so you kind of feel stuck in this place I'm dating some guy and he just won't ask me to marry him and I can dated it on my date if I prayed upright enough fast enough fast I bet that he still hadn't do it easy playing video game so I stay with them or should I go out with somebody else you know and then give up all that time it just kind of goes on and on and on and on we often feel alone we feel we feel lost we feel disoriented we feel like nobody really understands what we're going through in the wilderness what's so interesting to me is when you look at wilderness stories in the Bible they often follow mountaintop experiences wilderness times often follow mountaintop times and that's exactly what happened with Jesus he had a mountaintop moment with God right after he was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River and literally heaven opens up and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove and his father verbally and publicly expresses his love and approval for his son and God says this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased it's a father saying I'm proud of the son it's a mountaintop experience and then the next verse says immediately Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted for forty days mountain top followed by wilderness some of you may have been like that things were going great and then you found out that someone wasn't being honest with you and suddenly you're in a wilderness you thought your spouse was being faithful in your spouse wasn't oh my gosh now you're in the wilderness you're the financial wilderness you're trying and trying and trying to get out of this time that's death and you feel so desperate it whatever you do it doesn't seem to work you've tried to tell people how you feel but they just don't seem to understand you feel alone you feel spiritually dry you feel desperate in the wilderness what I want to do today is show you one big thoughts that we'll come back to again and again that I pray will not just be true but will be true to your spirit as you hear it and as you live it the big thought is this your deepest need as much as it hurts your deepest need becomes a gift when it drives you to depend on God your deepest need becomes a gift when it drives you to depend on God in fact I'm gonna show you a story from the Old Testament where this has lived out in a very real way in first Kings chapter 19 when we see Elisha the prophet that God had used in massive ways he literally on the Mount of mountaintop Mount Carmel he experiences the power of God and almost immediately after this we see him go from the mountaintop to the wilderness where he's desperate where he's depressed where he feels all alone and scared for his life to give you a little context there was an evil king named King Ahab and King Ahab had an even more evil wife named Jezebel and Jezebel heard about all that that Elijah had done she got so mad essentially she said to her husband look if you can't do the job right then let this woman do the job and that's kind of what she did she said send word to Elijah that by this time tomorrow he will be dead she threatened him King a habit had been coming after him for years and years and years but as soon as a woman got mad Elijah got scared and watch this now I'm gonna show you right in God's Word she makes the threat the King had been pursuing him for years she makes the threat and this is what the Bible says Elijah was afraid and ran for his life when he came to Bathsheba's and Judah he left his servant there let me pause for a moment because when you just read the text you may not understand just how far this bro ran to run to Bathsheba listen this is this is before over I mean we're talking the guy is on foot he runs about a hundred my to get away from this crazy angry woman we're talking to prophet turns into Forrest Gump I was Rana I mean he he he is out of Dodge he is scared he runs a hundred miles Elijah was afraid and ran for his life when he came to Russia VII and Judah he left his servant there while he himself went a day's journey he was just on the mountaintop but where did he end up he ran into the wilderness into the wilderness where he's alone where he's scared where he's hurting and where he's desperate he came to a boot broom bush and sat down under it and prayed that he might die and then he said the words that so many of us have said were felt at some point in our lives he said I've had enough Lord I just can't take it anymore he had put up battle he had fought with bravery he had faith he had courage and finally he's just at the end of his rope I've had enough Lord I'm certain in a group this size that there are some of you that at some point in your life and many of you at this point in your life have just said those very words I'm done I'm spit I've had enough I can't take any more you're raising kids you're raising teenagers at some point you say it I've had it up to here I've had enough Lord then you say don't make me come back there cuz I will you know you say that things like that come out of your mouth I've had enough Lord I can't take it anymore somebody your work in a work situation we're finally just the straw breaks the camel's back like I can't take it anymore here I just can't take another day at this place you're you're financially you're trying to get ahead and you're making progress and then your car breaks alright then you're pure toilet overflows then your two-year-old puts a tick tack up his nose and you're going to the emergency room to get it redone why is this guy I can't take any more at all you feel overweight sometimes it's the smallest things you you work hard you serve faithfully you make everybody the greatest meal ever you put it down on the table it's made with love they eat it in 30 seconds they leave all the dishes on the table and sir you turn into Jezebel I'm gonna kill somebody by this time tomorrow everyone who ate of my food will be dead if this house isn't clean it just throws you over this is something and this apparently is what happened to Elisha the prophet because let me tell you what this guy had experienced the presence of God this guy had fought with bravery with boldness in fact if you don't know the backstory he stood down the evil king and prophesied and called for a drought as a punishment to this kings sins and sure enough God stopped the rain well the king is mad at Elisha so he sends all of his forces after Elijah he hides for three years God is protecting him God miraculously feeds him through Ravens from heaven then God uses Elisha to raise the life of a dead boy this prophet stands down 850 false prophets of Bale he calls down fire from heaven God shoots fire from heaven consumes the altar then God destroys the false prophets Elijah eventually calls and ask God to make it rain he sees in the distance a cloud the size of a man's hand and as the faith to believe that God is bringing the provision of rain and God does this prophet experienced the protection of God this prophet Brett experienced the provision of God he knew very well the presence of God he had experienced God's greatness and then when one woman makes a threat he runs forth like all the men aren't even laughs and they're like looking forward they're not even bringing I know what you're talking about pastor Craig I don't know what you talk about your eyes before is live some of you feel this way right now I've had enough I can't take any more I'm just exhausted I'm overwhelmed I knew the best I can and the best I can just isn't enough I was privileged to be a part the conversation dr. Henry cloud was talking and he's a fantastic Christian psychologist and he was talking to a group of leaders that were all experiencing the same thing what many of you may be experiencing right now they're all talking about how we're just tired we're just all tired retired retired retired retired doesn't like towards Albany you're tired my church southern Florida you're tired where I'm from we're not tired we're tired as well we are I'm in Oklahoma ma'am we're does worst hard how hard I don't hard I spell that T ard hard you know everybody's tired and dr. cloud said for most of you you're probably miss diagnosing your challenge let me say this to many of you you may be missed diagnosing what your real need is he said most of you are not tired because if you were tired you could take a nap and that would solve your problem you're not in need of physical rest as much as you are in need of spiritual replenishment he said you're not just tired but you're spiritually depleted this needs to speak to somebody you're not just tired you're not just overwhelmed what you need is an encounter with the very real and very holy presence of God which you need is an intimate moment where you experience the grace the goodness the loving-kindness the mercy of the presence of God not just tired maybe you do need some rest maybe maybe some physical rest would be good but even more than just physical rest or those you need to encounter the grace of God you need spiritual replenishment this is what David said in the twenty-third Psalm he said the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures he the Lord restores my soul not just tired I just worn out but I need the restoration grace of God to my soul not just physically exhausted but spiritually depleted so what does God do what I love is what God doesn't do God doesn't preach on the sermon long this is your fault this is your fault God doesn't give him you know 10 verses to memorize or say where's your faith what God does is God tells them to eat and to rest that's what God says here's what scripture says verse 5 and 6 all at once an angel touched Elijah and said get up and eat if you listen to God he may tell you get up and get a double cheeseburger with bacon on it get up and eat he looked all around and there by his head was some bread some gluten-free bread from heaven baked over hot coals and a jar of water and he ate and drank and he lay down again what did God say essentially sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to rest in the presence of God sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is just take a breather and let God restore your soul verse 7 the angel of the Lord came back a second time I love this I don't know about you but sometimes I don't get it the first time and God comes back a second time and a third time because the presence of God continues to pursue you there are those of you today God is coming back for you again and if you don't get it today he'll come back again the Lord comes back another time and touched him and said get up and eat for the journey is too much for you so he got up and he ate and strengthened by the food he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb the mountain of God there he went into the cave and he spent the night there and the word of the Lord to him and said what are you doing here what why are you running away from me what are you doing here what are you doing here some of you've gotten they speak to you that way what do you think you're doing you're better than this what are you doing right now you've got access to me well why are you running away from people and running away from God what are you doing here and then Elijah starts getting whiny voice what he's talking to God I don't know if you ever get whiny voice when you're talking to God but I get whiny voice sometime when I feel like God's not answering my prayers and God's not doing what I want him to do and get whiny voice he replies that's what I do god I've been working so hard why don't you hear my prayer God what does he do this for me whiny voice maybe I'm the only one that gets whiny voice I don't know you're looking at me so strange he's got he's got whiny voice he says he's in a spiritual wilderness he's hurting his need is so great he cannot see beyond his own need nobody understands nobody's doing it like I'm doing I'm all alone I'm desperate and what does God do God meets him in his deepest need God ministers to him in his moment of vulnerability God brings healing in the middle of the hurts and that's why I hope you'll understand hey your deepest me can become a gift when it drives you to depend on God and God comes to him again and again and reaches out to him and his deepest need I love verse 11 the Lord said go and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord he's thinking this is what I need I need God's presence I'm scared for my life I need God's presence God is gonna reveal himself to me for the Lord is about to pass by then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord he's thinking God is gonna be in the wind God's coming into rushing and the mighty wind but the scripture says but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind was an earthquake surely God is in the shaking of the ground surely he is in the earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake came a fire certainly just as the burning bush was not consumed in the presence of Moses in the presence of God my God is coming into the fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire came a gentle whisper the ground shook and God wasn't in the shaking of the ground the wind raged and God was not in the winds the fire burned and God was not in a fire earth wind and fire see what God did there God did that God did that for you all born in the seventies if you don't know why everybody else is giggling just go ahead and be 18 and just enjoy you got a lot of life ahead of you we're all gonna die sooner you can get more jokes as you go okay God God was not in the remarkable God was in the ordinary whisper God was in the whisper why is it that when life is so difficult God's voice is so quiet why is he gentle why is his voice so still and so small if God wants us to hear him why does he whisper why doesn't he shout what doesn't he speak loud and powerful spectacular ways if he wants us to know him and to hear him why does he whisper I'll tell you why God whispers because he's close because he's right there with you whispers because he's near the devil shouts his lies but God whispers his truth God doesn't shout to get your attention he whispers to draw you close what is he safe to you I will never leave you I will never forsake you I've been with you every single moment and I love you more than you can imagine when you heard I heard with you I'm with you in the valley I'm with you in the wilderness I'm with you in the store why does God whisper he whispers because he's right there he's close what do you want to be when you're afraid anybody ever afraid of a storm when you're growing up anybody refer to stormy bye y'all look I've been preaching all weekend long I'm not doing this without you was anybody afraid of a storm you're a little kid you're a three-year-old kid thank you for your honesty you're going to hell if you don't tell the truth if this we're gonna have my issues okay of course you are if you aren't you're super two-year-old whether I scared to death anytime there's a big storm you know where I go straight to mom and dad's room they would not let me sleep in their room I could not in their bed it's you know what I do I grow up like a little dog at the edge of their bed I just write I just wanted to be close my kids you're not allowed in my bed there's six of them after a storm I wake up there'd be four or five of them all around my bed got a step over my cats you know it event well they want they want to be close to the ones who make them feel safe listen to me in the middle of the storm you don't have to run to God's bed he's already with you at yours he is right there he is close if your heart is hurting right now and you feel brokenhearted where is God let me tell where he scripture tells us in Psalm 34:18 the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and save those who are crushed in spirit why does he whisper because he's close because he's near because he is with you David said this he said the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures he restores my soul even though I walk through the valley the valley is not my destination I'm just passing through even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil why because he is with me because he is with me because he never leaves me because he has always closed his rod and his staff they comfort me he anoints my head with oil he prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies surely his goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life why does God whisper to his sheep because he's close he knows his sheep by name and his sheep know his soft and gentle voice David said of God's presidents he said where can I go from your spirit where can I flee from your presence if I go up into the heavens you are there if I make my bed in the depths you are there if I rise on the ways of the dawn if I settle on the far side of the sea even if your hand guides me your right hand will hold me fast your right hand will hold me how close is the presence of God that he can hold your hand why does God whisper because he's Klaus because he's close and then one day you'll discover that your deepest need becomes a gift when it drives you to depend on God hi Jess this is my friend Jess we met on my way into gold's gym I was trying to get into the gym and Jess said I didn't want to see you and I smiled back he said that's not a very nice greeting and she said I keep seeing you and then she told me I used to be a part of the church years ago but I stopped believing in Christ and I said to you how many more times you have to see me before it's a sign from God she said that's enough that's enough and so I said would you sit with me and my wife on the front row next Sunday and she did and she cried all the way through the message just like she has today and she signed him to serve some of y'all been coming for years we have served she comes on our first day and she serves and thank you for telling me your story that had a very low point in your life God reached down to where you were and now every week there's tears of joy there's tears of joy and the reason is listen to me because he's close and what you need to hear is that God loves you he is for you he sent you to the gym at the right time yeah because he's reaching out to you bringing you to himself yes plans for you plans to plus you to prosper you not to harm us give you all up in the future you are value put in him he cares for you so much these end us on Jesus now God's Spirit dwells within you God is working in your life to supernaturally Jesus bless you he's always with you even when you are away from him he was with you because it's always close and so last night my whole family is here together I've told you about Mandy my daughter who's been sick for a while and Mandy as I told you was not able to stand up through worship when she come to church cuz she didn't have the energy last night she stood up all the way through worship and I had a conversation with her during the message series when the devil knocks and let's just sit down I told her I think I think that the devil is attacking your body because God's called you to do so much and she said daddy that may be true but I actually think that God chose me for this I was a bit taken aback by so what do you mean God chose you for this she said not really God chose me for this said you explained this to me she said well look at what has happened through my sickness I'm ministering to thousands of people now every week through the youtube channel and never would have had a voice into their lives but now I get to speak into their lives every single week and see look how close I am to Jesus now look how blessed my marriages we're so dependent on God that we have to we have to have his presence moment by moment day by day and then she looked at me and she said God is gonna heal me of this and I will tell everybody about as goodness I will tell everybody and you know I will God chose me for this and then I started crying like a proud dad and she started crying like my precious daughter and she said now don't get me wrong I wouldn't want anybody else to go through this I'd never want to go through it again but I wouldn't change anything because of how close I am to God here's what I hope you'll understand we enjoy him on the mountaintops but we get to know him intimately in the valleys when we're wandering in the wilderness and we feel like nobody understands he understands and he cares and he is always good he wasn't in the booming earthquake he wasn't in the Russian wind he wasn't in the raging fire where was he he was in the whisper he was in the whisper and if you'll stop for a moment from the busyness of the rush of this world and you'll dig a ditch we talked about it last week you'll make a well you'll be ready for the presence of God he will meet you there because who is he the Virgin will be with child and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel which means God with us why does our God whisper he whispers because he's close at all of our churches let's take a moment pray together father we ask that in your presence that you administer grace to us your peace your goodness and your grace and as you're praying today at all of our different churches with nobody looking around I want you to just take a moment and ask yourself are you wandering now in a valley all of our churches those who say yes Craig pray for me I'm kind of I'm kind of in a I'm in a wilderness right now would you lift up your hands I'm in a wilderness let me ask you another question those of you who would say I am I may not be in a wilderness right now but no matter where I am I want to be even more aware of a still small quiet voice of my God if you're a Jesus follower I hope you raise your hand around the rooms those who say yes that's me father today I pray first for those who are in the wilderness god I asked about the power of your Holy Spirit you would reveal yourself in the whisper God show us that you are with us that you care that your grace is enough be our rock when our world is unstable be our strength when I are weak when we are weak got to be our comfort when we are hurting God may your presence be enough for those today say I want to hear God's quiet voice let me just encourage you to carve out some time to put it aside and say God I want to meet with you I need your presence I need you moment by moment when you draw near to God he will near to you you will find him scripture says when you seek him with all of your heart and if you'll be quiet and if you'll listen you'll hear the gentle whisper of a good God who is always with you and he's always close as you continue praying to did all of our different churches here those of you you recognize I don't know what that is I'm not I'm not in a relationship with this God let me tell you about who God is and the problem we have our problem is our sin nature we do we sin we do things wrong sin separates us from a holy God but God loved us too much to leave us dead in our sins this is the good news that God became one of us in the person of Jesus his name is Emmanuel he means God with us is God in the flesh God in the flesh Jesus perfect in every way who became the sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins Jesus died in our place rose from the dead so that anyone and this includes you who calls on the name of Jesus would be saved would be forgiven would be transformed and all of our churches there are those of you you recognize your need for God you don't work your way to them you can't be religious enough for him you receive the free gift of eternal life through the grace of Jesus Christ you call on his name when you do he'll hear your prayer forgive every sin and make you brand new the old life is gone the new life has come and that's why you're here today and you know it all of our churches those who say yes I want his presence I want His grace I want his forgiveness I commit my life to him I turn from my sins and I said Jesus be first in my life that's your prayer you need His grace call on his name now Jesus I give you my life lift your hands high right now all over the place lift them up and say yes back here all three of you up here god bless you guys others have you right back over here here in this middle section all the way that's good about praise God for you over here on this side way back here toward the back boat that you guys praise God Life Church let's worship for a moment let's tell God thank you others of you today we're leaning in to us say yes Jesus I surrender completely to your church online you click right below me everybody pray aloud together nobody prays alone Heavenly Father today I trust you to save me and to forgive me of all of my sins Jesus make me new fill me with your spirit so I could follow you so I could show your love so I could live for you and all that I do my life is not mine today I give it to you thank you for forgiveness thank you for new life today I give you mine in Jesus name I pray let's hear somebody works it loud somebody praise God somebody new in Christ [Applause] as a church it's our honor to play a small part and all that God is doing in and through your life and we would love to continue with you on that journey to find out what your next steps could be in your relationship with Christ all you have to do is go to life dot church slash next we would love to have you your friends and your family join us for one of our special Christmas Eve services happening at all of our Life Church locations to find out a service time in a location near you you can go to life dot church slash Christmas and if you don't have a life church near you you're in luck because we have services happening throughout the week at church online thanks again for joining us here at Life Church where our mission is to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ all because we believe whoever finds God finds life you

Channel: Life.Church

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Keywords: Craig, Groeschel, lifechurch

Id: GWfIJoJlye8

Length: 37min 36sec (2256 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 11 2017