Know God | Jeff Vines | Pursuing Jesus (Week 2)

[Music] well hey there one and all online i'm so glad that you're here to watch week two of our pursuing jesus series where we're gonna be going back to the basics talking about what it means to know god and specifically knowing god here at one and all if you haven't joined our discord server yet that is the best place for you to join an online community from wherever you are around the world it's a great place to talk about videos just like these with other people who are also watching each and every week you also have an opportunity to join an actual community group at one and all by visiting one and all dot church slash community we have groups of people that meet from all around the world in an online fashion on zoom and other mediums you want to check it out there's a group waiting for you and if there isn't you need to lead a group we also want to encourage you before we hop into this video if you haven't yet subscribed and you're watching on youtube or maybe you're watching on our website head over to our youtube channel hit that subscribe button also hit the like button leave a comment i would love to interact with you on there and share this video with a friend somebody else that needs to get back to the basics and learn the fundamentals of what it means to know god we also have some really cool young adult content coming out this week so you're going to want to make sure that you're subscribed so that if you're 18 to 30 year old anywhere around the world you're going to participate with us for one and all young adults let's get into the service now welcome to one and all church everybody my name is rory i'm one of the pastors on the team here and yes i am sporting my dodger blue go giants giants hey as of this filming currently yeah the giants are in first place but it doesn't really matter who's in first place right now it matters who's in first place at the end of the season and if i remember correctly i'm pretty sure those dodgers took home a ring last year anyways i digress hey if you happen to be new around here then we want to connect with you and you can help us by heading to one and all dot church slash new give us just a little information about yourself and we will follow up and help you in taking some next steps and how you can get connected here at one and all church but today ian we got something very special in store pursuing jesus week two week two man i believe that jeff is back from his uh study break as well so it's gonna be so good it's good whenever pastor jeff comes back from a study break you know it's gonna be he's gonna be refreshed it's gonna be good yeah now also before we head into the message you want to make sure to download the one and all app it's newly designed got some great features and you can do that by simply heading to the app store and typing in one and all church download that app you can take message notes there's a whole discipleship process in there that you can participate in make sure to download that app it's really going to help you in this series as we pursue jesus together yeah i love that it makes it so much easier in the service you can take your notes download them and just have them on the go it's perfect all right well let's go for it guys week number two knowing god [Applause] [Music] turn in your bibles if you would to matthew 6 we're going to get there just in a moment in matthew 6 jesus makes a rather dramatic statement before i get to that i just want to preface what i'm going to say with these words everything i'm going to teach everything i'm going to say in this message i'm guilty of it all we all are so i don't want you to get the the feeling that i'm here to present you with this attitude or lifestyle that i am living perfectly and if you could just become like me everything will be good the opposite is true in that i struggle with these very same things so i know the ramifications but the reality is all of us should be trying to improve at these areas and the simple way of saying it is that the way most of us are living is just not working it's not conducive to human flourishing it's definitely not conducive to a healthy spirituality it's it's it's detrimental uh to hearing the voice of god and hearing the voice of god is everything when you're in a position where you can discern the voice of god the words of god to you then you gain guidance during crucial times when you face crucial decisions you're going to be able to feel encouragement when you feel like giving up you're going to experience a certain amount of certainty when everything that you've believed in all of your life you start to doubt you begin to doubt what jesus says again is very dramatic he says in matthew 6 verse 22 and 23 if your eyes are healthy your whole body will be full of light but if your eyes are unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness if then the light within you is darkness how great is that darkness indeed we're in a series called pursuing jesus let me build this kind of platform upon which we are going to continue to present truths associated with what happens when we pursue jesus together as individuals coming together corporate body of jesus christ and as a church the idea that jesus is presenting here has to be seen through the lens no pun intended of the ancient world in the ancient world there was a quasi science uh called physi uh physiognomy and basically this science taught that a person's physical features could communicate the type of person they were on the inside as a matter of fact hippocrates said those with a large head and large dark eyes and a wide stub nose are honest so you see how this works your physical features determine who you are on the inside now i read that and i thought wow i have a small head in fact when i buy hats i have to buy a child size large in a children's size i have light blue eyes and my nose is quite narrow which means according to hippocrates i must be dishonest cicero said the eyes are the chief indicator of the soul the color and shape of a person's eyes reveal with exceeding clarity the innermost feelings of our hearts there is a first century description of tiberius that goes like this his unusually large eyes remind one of cattle and therefore a sign of sluggishness so in the eyes of who or the the person who's writing about tiberius his face looked like a cow therefore he must be lazy as a matter of fact we have a few terms that have evolved out of that first century context for instance you and i used the term stink eye well that evolved from the idea of evil eye and the belief was that certain animals or individuals demons or gods had the power to injure any object on which their glance fell so plenteous the elder wrote about the evil eye of a certain tribe when he said there are families in the same part of africa that will the evil eye whose gazes cause meadows to dry up trees to wither and infants to perish who also injure by the evil eye and who kill those at whom they stare for a longer period of time especially with furious eyes so imagine having that kind of power just by staring to cause physical debilitation now the reason that's important is because that is the context into which jesus speaks his words if the eyes are healthy your whole body will be full of light but if your eyes are unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness and if the light within you is darkness how great is that darkness indeed the hebrews had reversed the order in fact invented the order and saying that the eyes do not necessarily reveal the character of a person rather that upon which the eyes gaze reveals what the person's heart is ultimately about and will also have deep ramifications of mental health so rather than the eyes revealing the character of a person as was the thought among those who were in the quasar science uh physiognomy the hebrews taught that what the eyes shine light on what the eyes gaze upon what they fix their focus on in turn reveals what a person's heart pursues or chases hard after and as a result has great impact on our physical and mental health let me read it again he says if your eyes are healthy your whole body will be full of light but if your eyes are unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness so if your gaze is on something that is healthy something that is good something that has been designed for human flourishing then you in turn will be healthy but if you fix your gaze through your entire life on those things that are of darkness those things that are unhealthy those things that can never deliver what your soul searches for most then darkness will be or will reside and great will be the darkness indeed now back to the way that you and i are living as we began this message i just got back from turkey it's not what i expected at all i'd never been i had read stories i had seen documentaries this is a very slow paced culture in fact people sit out in the parks and on the street side cafes till late in the hours of the night somewhere around midnight the men and the women of the community come together in groups and they play backgammon they drink turkish tea or turkish coffee they eat this thing called cement not cement but cement which is like our form of the bagel only much more narrow much more crisp they talk every evening they enjoy life the shops don't even open until 10 a.m and the reason they don't open until 10 a.m which was uh quite a struggle for me because i need coffee before seven or things get ugly so i couldn't get a coffee until 10 or 10 30 because even though they open the shop at 10 you can come in and sit down but nothing really starts till around 10 30 or 11. and the reason this is is because they live their lives in community till late in the evening they sleep in and then start their day around 10 o'clock service in turkey is non-existent so if you go in and you order a latte which i did many times and you stand there waiting as if you want to take it you want to get it to go they will look at you and they will say respectfully but in their broken english they will say no no sit down you sit down because in their minds if you're going to order a latte a latte is meant to be enjoyed you don't take it and run away with it but you sip it slowly and enjoy the day one day when we were in a village called celchit i was walking down the street to try to find an atm as i'm walking of course an american tour stands out there was a an older man a turkish man by the name of marco who owned a carpet shop and as i walked by him knowing that i was out of place he said where are you from in his broken english i responded by saying los angeles he said come sit with me let's talk i know that you're an american and let me share the simplicity of turkish life with you and in about a 40-minute conversation i mean i found this to be a divine uh intervention that i would have the opportunity to speak with someone that knew enough english that i could gain or glean from him everything i could about turkish culture and during the course of the evening our conversation went on a more deep level he started saying to me as he trusted me you americans he said are killing yourselves now here's a turkish man who spent about three or four years in los angeles and then moved back to his home he said in america you never have enough and you think you're very religious but you're not now give him a little grace here he comes from a place where five times a day the amman comes over the loudspeakers in every city throughout turkey and no matter where you are you either come to the mosque to pray or you get your carpet or mat out in the street or at your job wherever you are and you pay homage to your god he says the you americans are far too busy to be religious far too busy to give thanksgiving to your god and i thought wow imagine america doing that where we would ring the church bell maybe three times a day what would happen we'd probably be uh arrested for disturbing the peace but how many americans would stop what they're doing three four five times a day and just engage in a pleasurable conversation with god and with each other now he wasn't being critical he was just stating and i think an effort to get me to move to his country that for us americans life is all about opportunity he's right about that we are the land of opportunity and there's a part of me that got a little defensive because i'm thinking hey you know what people don't move to turkey to make a career they moved to america but that was exactly his point in his own turkish way he was explaining to me how the pendulum in america has swung too far that we don't live simple lives anymore and it's robbing us of enjoying every new day everything in america i thought is high speed high speed internet you want your iphone to work faster and faster which is why you pay more and more money we think of the money we spend on high tech on things like amazon and ebay places where we can order things and have them at our front door within a matter of hours and how about netflix and apple and disney and hulu we want the convenience of things operating fast we have cars and houses we pay five dollars for a cup of coffee and sometimes when i hear someone say i'm just trying to pay the bills i'm reminded yes it's because most of us live far above our means and the things we purchase we really don't truly need the properties that we have i looked at my own house and i'm thinking the house i live in most people would say where are the other four families who live with you and if someone in turkey were to see three cars in my driveway they'd probably say why do you need three cars or why don't you just take the bus you notice what jesus talks about in that passage in matthew 6 i read the part with which most of us are not familiar we are familiar with the preceding verses where jesus says no one can serve two masters either you will hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve both god and money the point of all of this is there is a high cost to the way that we are living and it's not just money jesus said the pursuit of mammon and wealth changes you it changes what you pursue you become a different person and what you pursue all of your life ends up pursuing you and what you're trying to get ends up trying to get you and my turkish friend was trying to explain to me that this is literally this kind of life is killing us and it's why we are so anxious and depressed and have a sense of hopelessness you know there's a there's a neat little trick you play on yourself when you experience anxiety disorder which many americans are it's a thing called biofeedback so as your brain is sending a message to your body defined as impending doom and your heart is racing and your pulse is firing your blood pressure rises if you just take your fingers and put them where your pulse is just under your neck here and you take four deep breaths your pulse will slow it will send a signal to your brain that your pulse is slowing therefore everything must be okay and you'll get it out of the circle of impending doom into the circle that i'm okay i wish i knew a trick to tell you that you could put your soul to rest but that doesn't come by some trick or some formula that comes when you make intentional change in your life and according to jesus the change resides primarily in what you have decided all of your life to fix your gaze upon let me read it again the eye is the lamp of the body if your eyes are healthy if you fix your gaze on things that are conducive to spiritual and mental health then your whole body will be full of light but if your eyes are unhealthy if you fix your gaze on things that will never deliver what your soul most searched for searches for then your whole body will be full of darkness again this series that steve launched so well last week is about healthy eyes healthy bodies full of light healthy souls experiencing shalom peace human flourishing that we are fixing our eyes on jesus together that is a community and as individuals that we may know god and experience his presence in our lives so what this sermon intends to do intends to do is to address the question of how to how do i then if i am to pursue christ if i am to fix my gaze on god and that will bring about a healthy spirituality a healthy mentality that my life is full of light shedding away the darkness human flourishing shalom then how do i go about that now quickly i hardly ever ask you to write anything down follow in your bullet or follow in your outline on the app or write these principles down they're important some of them you've heard before some of them not first one is this you pursue christ we pursue jesus together through the language of god and his revelation to us there have been numerous times in my marriage when my wife robin has said this to me and i'm sure many wives have said the same thing to their husbands how can you and i be close if we seldom talk you can't how can we be intimate with each other when you don't understand me and how can you understand me when there's no effort of communication deep meaningful communication the bible tells you that god has gone to great lengths to communicate with you his will his purpose his way in a way that you can comprehend it's called the bible god's story of redemption of hope and ultimate security are all found in the pages of scripture and if you're seldom in the word you cannot possibly experience jesus pursuing jesus means that you're wanting to hear from his revelation you're wanting to understand him chris t green one of my favorite devotional authors because i believe that he has great depth and he writes with such profundity he says in one of his excerpts god's relationship with human beings is the in the pages of scripture and throughout history as well as the very existence of the bible gives ample evidence that god guides instructs corrects inspires encourages reveals and more inspired writers even call him the word the word of god and the character and the workings and doings of god are inextricably tied together so that the more you're aware of the way god works the more ability you have to discern the voice of god god has always been vocal and he always will be but you have to position yourself to listen and to hear david said early in the morning will i seek thee psalm 63 1. he also said in psalm 42 as the deer pants for the water brooks sow pants my soul for you o god my soul thirsts for god for the living god james chapter 4 verse 8 says draw near to god and he will draw near to you i had the privilege in my young life of having a grandmother grandma bessie who exemplified this type of life she didn't have a lot financially her gaze her constant pursuit was that of god through the voice of scripture and she constantly heard from the voice of god as a result she didn't have a television she couldn't afford it she didn't have an internet no ipad no ipod no iphone as we've said in the past just i prayed and as she prayed even though she had plenty of outward struggles diabetes poverty she had lived or surpassed the lives of two husbands yet she had this unbelievable strength and faith and i remember going to see her and witnessing firsthand this tattered old bible that she would sit and hold and quote even after her eyesight was gone she believed the word of god became flesh and was her connection to god in christ so she poured over scripture the written word probably like martin luther poured over the passage the just shall live by faith because the words of scripture became her lifeline her power her security charles spurgeon said a bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't and james merritt said the primary purpose of reading the bible is not to know the bible but to know god can i tell you there's no shortcut here and for those of you who think you know god and spend no time in the word be very careful the god you're beginning to know may not be the god of scripture it requires heavy pursuit and it's taken me a long time a lifetime to see how my daily time with god can pay huge dividends when you're feeling worthless the spirit recalls jeremiah 1 5 and psalms 139 before you were born i formed you you are fearfully and wonderfully made when you feel distant from god god is a friend who stays closer than a brother proverbs 18 24 when you feel lost and alone ephesians 2 you've been saved by grace through faith when you feel unloved nothing can separate you from the love of god romans 8 39 when you feel abandoned god will work everything together for good for his good for those who love god who are called according to his purpose so first the language of god now let me go back i'm going to stay here just for a moment you and i want to pick up the bible read something and magically be changed so when we hear this we think i'll try that for a week we do it it makes little sense to us and so we give up you cannot approach the bible as if somehow it's a quick fix in the same way that i can't repair any damage in my marriage with one conversation it takes an investment in understanding the language of the person that you are pursuing the bible you must study it you must seek to understand it you must meditate upon it and you must pray that the spirit activate the right word at the right time and because we are not living simple lives my turkish friend is right we are far too busy fixing our gaze on competing forces that are making our souls dark we are distracted by the affluence of the western way so we engage in netflix and hulu and facebook and apple tv and snapchat and twitter and news outlets and tick tock and i'm not anti those things i'm simply saying do you invest as much time in pursuing jesus as you do fixing your gaze on things that make no significant contribution to your spiritual and mental health through the word and the language of god second you pursue christ we pursue christ together when we live a more simple life and we pursue jesus through the language of friends i don't think most of us realize the power of community and friendship because if we did we would invest more time in community i've noticed in my own life the language of friends can keep us centered increase our ability to know jesus in a way that grants us incredible power over temptations emotions and doubts in fact god has often spoken his best words into my life through the voice of a friend you know when i was in turkey i received a call from the president or from the ceo director of what is known as icom international conference on missions and i hadn't heard from david for a while and i was kind of shocked when he said look the board and i met together a couple of nights ago and we all agreed we'd like you to speak in the friday night session now you have to know something usually the convention is planned out years ahead of time the speakers are advertised we know who's going to do what a couple of years three years ahead of time now the convention icon which hosts about eight to ten thousand people every year it's an annual convention is about six weeks away so i asked david i said why why would you be calling me now to ask me to speak in perhaps what is the most popular session the friday night session and here was his answer and i you know i really stressed on whether to mention this and i think it's time to do so david said because there are so many wondering about your relationship with ravi zacharias and there are so many people who are wondering what happened and do you have any answers for us now at first hearing that i thought man i don't want anything to do with this and then when i heard his plea he said the next generation need to have some kind of explanation or some kind of understanding how such a great man of great wisdom could have lived such a duplicitous life i put down the phone i started to do some research i thought well better now than than never i guess something to force me to really deal with this can i tell you something about my dear friend my dear friend got to the point where he was totally isolated there was no accountability around him he was respected and revered to such a high degree that no one asked him the hard questions about 20 years ago he started to live outside of community he was so well known he could be in the midst of hundreds of thousands of people but never really close proximity to anyone as i talked to people that i knew who knew him traveled in the same circles it is very clear the beginning of the demise occurs when we isolate ourselves thinking that we are strong enough to make it on our own in the last couple of years we have had the great fall of great churches who have done great ministry in america we've had the destruction or demise of mars hill that was led by martin driscoll we've had willow creek and everything that happened there in chicago under the direction and leadership of bill hybels and i do not stand here judging those men but simply to say the commonality in all falls seems to be isolation where the leader positions himself in a place where nobody can truly get to him or her there was a lack of community and the commonality in the great falls seems to be i can live life on my own i need no one to ask me the hard questions and i am above giving an answer to anyone from my actions alternatively as i continued the research i discovered wonderful things about other great communicators chuck swindoll billy graham matt chandler rick warren francis chan all refuse to live outside community they understand that without community and accountability there's no way they're going to become all they can become in jesus christ and greater still they have a great recognition an uncanny ability to recognize that if you're not moving toward christ there's no such thing as stagnation you're moving backward it's impossible to remain stable you're either going forward in your relationship or you're being sucked into the vortex of the world and moving backwards so can i ask you who speaks into your life you say jeff i really don't need that dude you're the one who needs it the most and your arrogance will ultimately be your downfall because the truth is feeling experiencing jesus comes as the result of a decision to position yourself in the places where his voice is heard most loudly and the voice of god is heard most loudly in the word of god and the discipline that you maintain studying the word of god reflecting on the word of god and the words of mature friends you say pastor jeff how do i know they're mature they often disagree with you they know the word of god well and they use scripture rather than pop psychology when you need their advice and they not only pray with you they pray for you there's no shortcut here it really comes down to upon what am i fixing my gaze what do my eyes pursue and pursuing jesus involves positioning myself around christian friends who will carry my burdens and in this way thus fulfill the law of christ galatians 6. folks it's friends our friends who will help us discover the difference between feeling sorry that we have violated god's word and actually repenting with a strong intention never to do it again how do we pursue jesus the language of god the language of friends quickly the language of obedience when moses asked for a sign even he and his doubt said god if i'm going to do this if i'm going to deliver your people give me a sign that you will deliver me you remember god's response it's something we've dealt with numerous times god did not say to moses just wait till i show up and part the red sea just wait till i show up and manifest myself in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire just wait do you step in front of the burning bush he never said that he simply said here is how you're going to know that i will deliver you in exodus 3 12 he says and this will be the sign that i have sent you when you have brought the people out of egypt you will worship god on this mountain said moses if you want to know if you want a sign here's the sign obey me every step of the way and when you obey me you will know that you are in right standing with me and i promise you you will fill my presence in a very deep and meaningful way and you will know that you can trust me that i will be faithful in the promises i have given we have lost our ability to fill jesus because we've lost our willingness to obey him are you with me say pastor jeff i've heard you say that before but do you know that the greatest adventures of your life the most intense victories of your life the most valuable valuable pursuits of the soul begin when you with the help of a friend obey the hard word that god has given you do you understand the reason so many of us are stuck and we're not moving forward that we've known jesus in this way for quite some time now and it's like we can't get past the elementary things that we say in our hearts that we seek a deeper more intimate relationship with god and yet we've never put two and two together and ask the question why are we not advancing why are we not existentially experiencing god on a level that we never had previously and it's because there is an area of disobedience in your life and you know it a voice keeps telling you rationalizing this area of disobedience that the spirit of god keeps convicting but then another voice comes in and says everyone has this problem you're no different you know i just had a young girl say to me that she's been dating this young man who is a youth pastor and she said pastor jeff i don't know what to do i really like him he's got an addiction to pornography and i ask him if he's willing to deal with this and he said look everybody struggles with this you're just going to have to live with it she said what do i do i said run run as fast as you can we hear this voice telling us that this area that we're dis living in disobedience grace will cover this god understands my struggle but you're missing the bigger question do you want to limp your way into eternity with god or do you want to thrive in this life and run to him in the next and more importantly i think do you want to be used by god for grand purposes while experiencing the best adventures of your life your best life now is always on the other side of obeying the hard work god has given to you as we pursue christ together as we fix our gaze and our eyes on him we gain these disciplines whereby we want to study and understand the communication the word of god to us where we are held accountable through christian friends and where we are willing to obey him in the difficult areas of life so who has the courage this weekend who has the real courage to stop pursuing and watching and listening inappropriate content darkness in darkness out fix your gaze on things detrimental to the soul the soul becomes unhealthy and begins to disintegrate ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 follow god's example therefore as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love just as christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to god now listen to verse 3 but among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity or of greed because these are improper for god's holy people nor should there be obscenity foolish talk or coarse joking which are out of place but rather thanksgiving the alternative is that you would fix your gaze or set your minds on things above colossians 3 2. who has the courage now to ask yourself the hard question what do i fix my gaze on what motivates me what gets my heart pumping a little faster what am i most passionate about how many of us would be willing to walk out of here or turn off youtube or whatever we're watching and after this message is over say i'm going to stop the affair i'm going to stop the greed i'm going to stop the coveting i'm gonna stop the crude language i'm gonna stop being entertained by things that jesus would most definitely disapprove of i'm gonna stop the gossip and the slander i'm gonna stop the bitterness and unforgiveness we have lost our ability to fill jesus because we've lost our willingness to obey him we can't fill him because we refuse to obey and because we can't fill him we start to doubt his existence and because we doubt his existence we have no access to the power within us that he is more than willing to release to give us the greatest victories of our lives it's all connected how do we pursue jesus listen to the language of god listen to the language of friends listen to the language of obedience fourth and finally stay with me now listening to the language of worship let me tell you something that happens as you get older music plays a greater role of consolation and inspiration than we ever dare admit because over time your heart gives way to certain cries the cry for peace and tranquility the search for soulless the cry for a touch of the supernatural for something that penetrates deep into the soul and i am convinced that more than ever music has the capacity to strike at the core of our beings in a way that god has designed from the beginning in other words if you want to pursue jesus in a meaningful way you've got to make worship a regular part of your day you know some of you've heard me say before that spotify may not be from god per se but like every other secular invention we christ followers are called to redeem it for good and can i tell you what i do i try to listen to one and all worship songs as i'm driving down the road i love to listen to joshua aaron especially his concert live at the tower of david it's a favorite artist of mine i love elevation worship especially the song oh come to the altar i've shared that before worship has a way of bringing god who seems far near now i do not want to regurgitate everything i've said about my time in rwanda i just know that we still have new people coming all the time so just a short explanation after the genocide in 1994 i was one of a few pastors that went into the prisons of kogali actually all throughout the country of rwanda to preach the message of repentance and kugami the president in the same vein as nelson mandela decided that he would seek uh rather than seek retribution would seek reconciliation and part of that was the repentance of the people who had orchestrated the genocide remember you're talking about a million people died within 90 days now i had been to rwanda on numerous occasions but on this particular occasion my translator anastasia bamuga told me that we were going to go up on the border of the congo now i want to tell you a little bit of the rest of that story i've given you the big picture but let me go down to the weeds a little bit for a second i had prepared the message that i was going to preach and this was going to be a hostile crowd i shared with you that i said to anastas right before we entered through the iron gates i said am i in any danger remember his response does it matter if you're in danger you're not going to preach the gospel to these people are you only going to go in if it's safe i go in and there's a real part of me that did not want to go robin was not with me i was i felt alone although i was not i get that i was in unfamiliar territory when i walked into that prison we were not welcomed as we were in other prisons there were looks of disgust like what's this american doing in our prison i guess he's going to tell us we should repent but we're still angry and if we had the chance we'd do it all over again remember this prison on the border of the congo housed those who orchestrated the genocide their hatred for the tutsis were was intense and it wasn't dissipating god opened this door i went in to preach the gospel i spent three hours writing the sermon when i got up on stage to preach it's like god said throw that away i got this and suddenly all the scriptures key scriptures i had been reading in my devotional life all of my life just started flooding into my mind and it's like the spirit of god said open your mouth and the word of god will come all who call on the name of the lord shall be saved there's no one righteous no not one come to me all you are heavy laden and i'll give you rest so for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life confess your sins and god is faithful to forgive you how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news the good news of the gospel ask and you will receive seek and you will find knock on the door will be open it's like suddenly for 25 minutes one scripture after the next after the next and then something remarkable happen out of these thousands who had orchestrated the genocide 536 people came forward the chaplains behind me took center stage anastas led them through their confession there was a huge baptismal service it was an amazing experience some of the prisoners could not believe it as they watched their friends confess their sins and ask for forgiveness and god said to me during that same time don't you dare discount this pastor jeff i'm doing a new thing in rwanda now because i am skeptical by nature when we got back to the camp that night it was me anastasia and all the chaplains and i looked at anastasi and i said did something supernatural just happen or are these guys just trying to get out of prison in other words yes i preached this message but did they just come forward so they'd be forgiven and somehow think they'd get out of prison and not have to suffer the penalty for their crimes i could tell that anastasia was not very pleased with me anastasia looked at me said jeff they can't get out of prison it's too late for that they have to serve their terms but now they can do so in peace and he said jeff a real evil took over our country i thought you understood that many of these murderers believed that god abandoned them and let satan take over their wills because in retrospect they can't believe they were able to commit the atrocities they committed but today because of the good news of the gospel they discovered that god never abandoned them and will indeed forgive them if they confess and repent of their sins the gospel brought them the hope for which they had been searching that's what you saw today jeff in that camp when i returned to the camp we locked arms the worship service that night just by the congo river was one of the most intense worship services i've ever been a part of because i realized in that moment i was part of something much bigger than myself that god was changing on an entire nation he was bringing restoration in the middle of an event that catalyzed so much retribution we locked arms and we all began to sing the one song that is universal amazing grace how sweet the sound to save the wretch like me and as we were singing that song it dawned on me that i am no better than those prisoners that i also am a wretch that jesus bravely went into the prisons of the earth that he rescued the perishing and cared for the dying that he set the captives free and now he speaks a word to me just as he has spoken to those prisoners the spirit of god said well done good and faithful servant i felt jesus that day more than any other day in my life since then [Music] is it because i did something good no because i was part of something good is it because i faced death unafraid absolutely not absolutely not you're afraid you're tempted to to bail to leave but when you obey god on the other side of the hard word is the best life you could ever imagine and all of these things came into play at one point the language of the word words of the spirit brought to my mind at the right time in the right place to deliver a message that would spark a revival and restoration and repentance the language of friends anesthos reminded me that i don't get to choose which commands i obey remember does it matter pastor jeff did god tell you to come here or did he not did god not open these doors no man can open these doors into this prison no man can do that are you going to obey or are you going to leave in fear and doubt the language of obedience i think now of what i would have missed had i not had the courage to move forward through the encouragement of a friend and then the language of worship that night the words of amazing grace sank deeper into my soul than they had ever been before because i realized we're all sinners in prison in desperate need of the grace of god how do you know you're pursuing jesus can i tell you you're living more simply you stopped serving mammon and you began serving god somewhere along the line your focus shifted your gaze moved from the things of this world and you fixed your view on god and as a result you enjoy the gifts of god your family your friends your community your church your eyes go hard after those things and your worship significantly increases as you lay your mat out metaphorically day after day after day can i say to you god help us all people keep asking me pastor jeff is this the end are these the end times and it frustrates me a little every time we have a pandemic or something that happens like an earthquake or some rogue leader wrecks havoc on humanity every time that happens it seems that we want to suggest these are the end times well can i tell you the end times have been happening since jesus established his kingdom 2000 years ago of course we're in the end times these are the times of the church but i can tell you this this is in america the beginning of secularism and if you're not careful please hear me you will get sucked into this and the ramifications will be the darkness of your soul did you hear me if you're not careful you won't even know it you will get so busy and you will gaze your eyes on things or the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes and great will be the darkness in your soul indeed you've got to make a decision and that's what this series is about to change the course and to fix your gaze on the word of god on accountability with the people of god on obeying the hard word god gives you and worshiping god as the posture of your life and when you do that you're on your way to being ready at the lord's return and you will experience god in ways for which you have long so so long father thank you for reminding us that the passion and pursuit of our lives is christ and i pray in this very simple message somehow we would be reminded we've got to change the way we're living we've got to ask what is it in our life that we truly need and what is it that we want and what do we need to give up that is distracting from who we truly are in christ renew our passion for your word renew our passion for accountability in community renew our passion to obey the word that you give us and renew our passion for worship knowing that through these means we will get to know god and the god who seems far away will come near in christ's name amen [Music] you ready have some punches come on [Music] [Music] let praise be a weapon that conquers all anxiety let it we sing your name in the dark and it changes everything [Music] we sing with all we are when we claim your victory [Music] breakthroughs on our side forever [Music] let faith be the song that overcomes the raging sea let faith [Music] [Applause] let it rise forever [Applause] this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you we praise you this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is [Music] this is what freedom feels like this [Music] yes [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hey what an amazing time worshiping together and now we're going to continue our worship through the giving of our gifts our tithes and our offerings and you can do that really simply by heading to one and all dot church slash give and i just want to take a moment and let you know that your generosity is making an impact globally and actually helping people with their tangible needs many of you guys know the plight that is happening in afghanistan right now and the people having to flee well through our partnership with cicm which is central india christian mission we've been partnering with them to provide food clothing and shelter and even medicine for a number of afghan refugees who've crossed over into the border of india and we're just trying to love on them and care for them in their time of need and be the hands and feet of jesus and some of you might also remember that this past fall we had a large diaper collection i think we collected around 12 500 diapers well all of those diapers are heading down with our partner convoy of hope and going to people who are trying to put their life back together after all the tragedy in louisiana and hurricanes and all that stuff so again thank you thank you for being a generous church and thank you for really being the hands and feet of jesus and again if you want to participate you can head to one and all dot church slash give but before we head out just a few quick things now number one community man we talked a lot about it the past few weeks but if you're not in a community group you've got to get in a community group it's how you grow that's how you grow that's how you grow and especially in this pursuing jesus series man get plugged in you can head to one and all dot church slash community you can find a group a time a space that meets for you we've got groups in person as well as online so there is no excuse not to get in a group exactly they're all over the world they are yeah and monday night don't forget prayer night yes there's just something special when people come together and pray come together and worship we're doing it on all campuses online it's gonna be great you absolutely do not to miss prayer night but something else you don't want to miss out on is our daily podcast in fact it's going to tag along right with this series with some very special content and if you didn't know we had a daily podcast then we do and you can download the podcast each and every day it's called the one and all daily in fact we've seen some record engagement over the past few weeks as a number of one and all and people all over the world are getting daily inspiration and encouragement as they engage god's word together so make sure to go to wherever you download your podcast and subscribe today as we continue to get the word out about what god is doing around these parts as well as all over the world and lastly what's happening next tuesday oh that's right that's right ian what is young adults september 14th it's gonna be amazing it's gonna be 7 p.m it's gonna be worship baptism preaching it's gonna be great if you're in the area feel free to come there's gonna be food and we'd love to see you cannot wait we've been praying a long time about that so it happens this tuesday make sure to be there hey all that being said it's time to end like we always envy in and that is with one hope and one life in christ god bless you guys [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey

Channel: ONE&ALL

Views: 2,377

Rating: 4.9272728 out of 5

Keywords: Know God, pastor jeff vines, today with jeff vines, premier christian radio, church service, christian church, youtube church, one&all church series, one and all worship, worship music, jeff vines vision christian radio, jeff vines new zealand, one and all church, watch church online, church at home, watch church from home, week 2, Pursuing Jesus, knowing God

Id: 1vyrbRowX-8

Length: 59min 32sec (3572 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021