"Seeking After God" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

you know the one of the most important things in life is your direction what you're seeking what are you looking for and of course the priority in life would be to seek that which is the most important nothing is more important than God our message today seeking after God I remember when our kids were littler that we would enjoy playing hide-n-seek anyone else do that with your kids so you did that growing up and you know when they're real small it was you know funny because we just play in the house we'd have a very limited place where we could do the hiding it's a little more fun outside and you know and I'd stand behind the curtains and they quickly find me all right you know my feet are sticking out under the curtains or out from under the couch or whatever it is and they were just squeal with the light the idea of finding something that was sought and I think that the parents enjoy watching the children experience the joy of finding something you have pursued God wants us to experience the joy of finding the greatest thing that any intelligent being can experience and that's God in the New Testament begins with some people that are seeking and you know the story there if you look at Matthew chapter 1 it tells us that the the wise man the Maggie I had come from the east some were in Mesopotamia they read the prophecies about Balaam talking about a star arising out of Jacob and they knew that this was a sign of the coming king the Messiah the savior of the world and it wasn't just the Jews that believed in this great deliverer that would come and they came seeking after God made a long arturis journey they said we've seen his star that when all of Jerusalem was stirred up about this and when Karen Herod heard about this the king he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and he gathered the chief priests and the scribes together and inquired of them where the Christ was to be born so they said in Bethlehem and you know of course Herod then interviewed the wise men and he said when did this star appear tell you what you go to Bethlehem go search go seek carefully for the young child and when you found him come back bring me word that I might worship him - you didn't want to worship him he wanted to kill him in fact you can read a little later where it tells the Joseph and the wise men are told don't go back to Herod Joseph and Mary and the family are told to leave Bethlehem because he says and this is in verse 13 Herod will seek the young child now here you get the wise man seeking the child he got Herod seeking the child they seek the child to worship Him Herod seeks the child it says to destroy him seems like everybody was seeking him but for different reasons you know first question you find in the Bible man runs from God and God says where are you the first question that you find in the New Testament is the wise men looking for God and they say where is he now the reason we look for him is because he first looked for us you know sometimes we think that I found the Lord a lot of people weren't even looking for God they say I found the Lord well God found you he gets your attention but after he's found you he wants you to seek for him in the Bible one talks about seeking after God the word seek there is not talking about like an event it's talking about a process it's an ongoing search and if you're going to be a whole syllable ever we need to be engaged in seeking after God the Wiseman sought to worship him Herod sought to destroy him do you know the first words that you find in the Gospel of John and Luke spoken by Jesus involve seeking it must be a priority with God are we seeking after God you look at Luke 2:49 Jesus said first words to his parents why did you seek me there he was 12 years old they misplaced Jesus in the temple can you imagine trying to explain to the father we know that you gave us your son keep an eye on him and to raise him we seem to have misplaced him that would have been pretty heavy prayer to pray they lost Jesus and then they spent days sorrowing seeking to find him again you sometimes if we take our eyes off Christ it takes a little longer seeking and sorrowing to find him if you look in John chapter 1 verse 38 first words of Jesus Jesus turned and seeing them following he said to them what do you seek that's a good question for all of us what do you seek everybody's searching for something mark 137 and when they found him they said to him all men seek for you so it's interesting here Luke John Mark and Matthew it all begins with seeking after God so how do you search for God well he speaks to us through his word he speaks to us through prayer he speaks to us through Providence do you look for God in your day to see how has God led me are you hungry and thirsting for God the old gospel is about seeking people search for that which is precious I remember we had a knock on our door years ago here in town and and one of the neighbors young mother she said we've lost our little girl and you know we've dropped what we were like I didn't say well look I'm I'm writing some letters I can't help you right now I'm doing a search on the Internet we dropped whatever we were doing and they knocked on the other neighbor's doors and the whole neighborhood came alive it probably only took in half an hour 40 minutes she was found safe but it was interesting the priority everybody dropped what they were doing it's a search for a missing child because you know what's more important than that what's important searching for God used to be when I was young if I found a penny I felt like I found a treasure and I pick it up it used to be worth something a matter of fact even Benjamin Franklin said find a penny pick it up you know the rest of that all the day you'll have good luck I guess I'm getting old no one else so you didn't read for Richard's Almanack did you now you drop a penny you go matter-of-fact you go for change and you say ah hey so you got a penny back you just keep it right put it in the drawer for someone else that doesn't have a penny we seek for those things that are valuable Matthew 13 45 again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls he's looking for that which is precious and when he has found one of a great price he goes and he sells everything to get that which he sought for what could be worth more than God there is no treasure that is greater than finding God Matthew 18 verse 12 Jesus said what do you think a man has a hundred sheep and one goes astray does he not leave the ninety and nine and go in the mountains and seek for that one that is strained and if he finds it assuredly I tell you he rejoices moreover that sheep than over ninety-nine that did not go astray now if you already have something and then you lose it and you refined it then it's like wow that's exciting you're even happier than you were before you'd lost it just something about the the searching and the discovery or curious creatures it brings us joy Jesus left all the unfallen worlds to come find this one fallen planet nothing's more important than life and Jesus is offering us life and when you're seeking for God you're seeking for life you know here we are at the time of this broadcast 2017 do you know they are still searching for Amelia Earhart and it was 1937 my dad actually met her 1937 when her plane went missing when her plane first went missing they spent the government 250 thousand dollars a day for months you know that was a lot of money back than a quarter of a million dollars to try to find her fascinating well an American icon a hero had been lost and they were doing everything to find that person does heaven do less to find us when we're lost not only is not only are we seeking for God don't forget he is seeking for us now how do you seek for that which is valuable is it a casual glance or is it a diligent search I suggest you seek diligently again Jesus shares a parable about seeking or what woman having ten silver coins if she loses one does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it she doesn't search and say oh well I give up she keeps searching and when she has found it she calls her friends and her neighbors now he might be wondering why would you call your friends and neighbors together so you know I lost that silver dollar and I found it let's have a party typically what would happen is when you got married there were wedding dowry coins that were very precious and they were kept eating just spend them and so it's assuming that these were in that category so it's like a memento of the wedding and so it's something precious she calls all her friends again and say rejoice you know that coin I was missing I found it I found that which was lost how do we seek diligently whenever I signed a book almost always I had a scripture in the scriptures Jeremiah 29:13 now if you really want to get the whole thing you read Jeremiah 29:11 213 but Jeremiah 29:13 says and you will seek for me and you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart God doesn't want us just to research for him because how important are we oh if a lady is gonna marry a young man it seems like it's almost an international custom but they wait to see how interested are you will you pursue me and how will you pursue me and if that young man acts like he's a little indifferent she figures not the right man don't we all kind of want to be pursued don't you want people to want you I mean what's the opposite don't want you does God plant his own desire in our hearts does God want to be wanted you notice Jesus never forced himself on anybody said I stand and I knocked but you got open the door I'm not breaking in I can but I'm not going to I want to be wanted and how do we show you one a casual glance our searching with all of your heart as though nothing is more important than finding God he will be found when you search with all your heart he doesn't promise you're gonna find him some people say oh you know I read the Bible and usually as I get anything out of it usually that means they open it up they cracked it they put their finger down the river verse and said I don't know what that means they closed and said yeah I read the Bible I've had people say oh I know the Bible it's a yeah quote me a verse and not too many of them can actually quote you very much so they didn't really seek for God we need to search diligently the diligent search now this is encouraging God promises that that diligent search will be rewarded you will not come up empty Hebrews 11:6 without faith it is impossible to please him for he that comes to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of those that search for him diligently he promises that reward for you now that's encouraging he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him God promises you search for me I will reward you you will get what you look for Luke 11:9 and I say to you ask and it will be given to you what's the rest of that seek and you will find he's promising us knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and for him who knocks it will be opened so is it worth searching for God you think I'm and you spend all that money for search and didn't find anything I forget how much they spent but there was that plane that went down you know it was a Malaysian plane and it just kind of went off the radar and it looks like my opinion was there's smoke in the cabin it had all the signs of heaven and people all pass out in the plane they were trying to turn back and land and and it just ran out of fuel and went off in the middle of the most remote part of the South Pacific there by the Arctic and they'd never have found the transponder they found pieces of the plane but you know how much money they spent millions and millions of dollars combing the ocean to find a plane they didn't even believe anyone was alive but they were just trying to get the answers people are curious searching and searching and coming up empty how disappointing that must have been but God says that won't happen with you if you search for him you will find therefore jesus said Matthew 6:31 don't worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what will we wear but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added you know what that means what are the other things what does most of the world seek for I was driving a couple of days ago I saw him Pastor Ross about this and driving down the freeway a lot of traffic coming back from San Francisco I saw one or two bills of currency it happened so quickly I didn't know if they were ones or twenties or hundreds but it was clearly money went by my windshield you know what my reaction was stop but I was surrounded by cars and I thought well it's money in the air it would just fluttering there and I had told pastor Ross and said you know if you went at one of these overpasses on Interstate 80 and you dropped fifty dollars in one dollar bills fluttering down over the overpass you would cause an instant gridlock probably an accident even though they're only one dollar bills because people would see that go it's raining money and they'd all slam on their brakes why everybody's searching for something what is most of the world searching for not for God when the Wiseman came into Jerusalem everyone said you're looking for what listen we're not even Jews he's your king he's the King of the Jews where is he oh oh you you know who God revealed himself to the ones who were searching for him a few shepherds in the field some Gentiles from afar some local Jews and the rest of the people were preoccupied with other pursuits so what are you searching for they weren't searching for God let me give you a promise he says seek first the kingdom of God all the other things you worry about what will I eat and what will I drink what will I wear and and the other basics of life he says you'll get those things but don't let that be your priority seek first the kingdom now here's a verse I really enjoy speaking about King aza when you talk about the king is in the Bible you got typically they're good kings and then there's bad kings so when you hear me talk about King as our Isaiah was he good king or bad King mostly good King he need to he really blundered and something particular but otherwise it says he was a good king blessed by God very became very strong so he made these war machines the only time that's mentioned in the Bible he had engineers have built these incredible war machines and all the other nations were afraid of him and he built that the kingdom he's a great builder he reigned for over 50 years but when he became prosperous he made a mistake but up until listen to what it says second chronicles 26 five you might want this because it's a good promise he as I have sought God in the days of Zachariah who had understanding of visions of God no notice and as long as he sought the Lord God made him to prosper anyone out there want to prosper I'm not a prosperity preacher but this is the promise here if as long as he sought the Lord he made him to prosper doesn't say as long as he sought money he prospered as long as he sought the Lord he seemed to have the other it doesn't say you sought victory over his enemies and he prospered he sought the Lord and he got victory over his enemies he made God the priority in his life and all the other things were added to him you know the story about Solomon says Solomon loved the Lord I think its first Kings chapter 3 walking in all the commandments of the Lord God appeared to Solomon and night in a dream said what shall I give you so what would you say Solomon could have said well you know I'd really like to be a billionaire he could have said we get these other enemies we'd like to totally subdue them I would like long life good looks beautiful spouse he didn't just want one he ended up with 700 that's right it's 300 concubines and 700 wives or vice versa it doesn't matter at that point but anyway so what does he say he says Lord I'm just a child I don't know how to go out or come in I need wisdom to govern this people of you in other words I want to be a good King I'm seeking your kingdom and when he sought the kingdom of God is the first thing he asked for God said because you have not asked for silver and gold and all these other things because the first thing you were pursuing was me because when he asked for wisdom from God you're asking for the Spirit of God you're asking for God because you're making me the priority I will give you everything else as long as his eyes set the Lord sought the Lord God made him to prosper everybody's searching for something promises if you see you'll find they look for the wrong things you might find the wrong things now the week do not seek I just did that so it would rhyme and you remember it the wicked don't seek God psalm 10 verse 4 the wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God God is in none of his thoughts now right there that tells me something about seeking God seeking God means God is where in your thoughts so seeking after the Lord doesn't mean you go on a lengthy pilgrimage we may be going to Israel later this year but we're not going to go there look for God it'll be educational some people go on pilgrimages to Mecca or different places and that's their idea of seeking God Luther went to Rome on a pilgrimage and he was finally climbing the steps II so what am I doing here he found God in the Word of God and so that's where you're gonna find him the wicked God is not in their thoughts many are gonna be lost while hoping and desiring to be saved because they did not really seek after God another thing to remember is it's the week who do not seek God those who are seeking God seemed to keep further away from the devil because you're going away from the devil when you're seeking God does that make sense someone once said when the gazelle wakes up in Africa it must outrun the fastest lion or Die when a lion wakes up it needs to run faster than the slowest gazelle or it starts spurgeon Charles Spurgeon the preacher wrote if you are not seeking the Lord the devil is seeking you if you are not seeking the Lord judgment is at your heels in the Christian life it's not simply enough to wake up we are called to run to become more like Christ and to press ahead in godliness and a lot of seeking that we do these days is on the internet and it's sort of like it's almost instant gratification where people would search for things before and it was an investment I would look at one word I had this big Young's concordance and there was 5,000 times that word appeared in the Bible I have to go through him and the print was that big and if you ever used the old Young's concordance or the strongest concordance and when you found a verse you went Eureka I found the verses looking for it now you just go to Google I've got Bible Software I just go to Google now it's almost as fast typing part of the verse movements there by the way do you know why Bible verses pop up so quickly on Google because Google uses an algorithm where they look at what other people are looking for and they make that on the top of the list Bible verses are one of the first things that will pop up in Google there's people all over the world are typing in Bible religious searches did you know that now don't recommend you abandon your Bible software but you'd be surprised how quickly you can find things that way people find what they're looking for you know every day in Sacramento you will have two birds that are flying over the country one is a hummingbird and one is a vulture the hummingbird is always looking for that which is bright and sweet the vulture is also searching but it's always searching for something that is thinking and dead they're flying over the same country but they're looking for very different things because of the essence of what the birds are so what are you searching for are you seeking after that which is going to give you life while you're searching make sure you're searching in the right spot you know the American government have spent 4.7 billion dollars building a tool to scan the heavens it's called the Hubble telescope did you know that's you spent 4.7 billion dollars on that nobody got an extra meal because that investment was it a waste No why are they doing it why would a government spend 4.7 billion dollars on the telescope to get a deeper look at galaxies humans are curious creatures you know ostensibly they say we built the Hubble because we're trying to find out the origins of the universe in other words where did we come from so we're looking up in the heavens we're spending all this money and they're getting ready to build a bug a bigger one now called the James Webb telescope James Webb and the mirrors on it are as big as a tennis court it's huge it's actually just gonna unfold like an accordion up there in space why are we spending all that we're looking up to the heavens we're wondering is there intelligent life out there and God from the heavens he looks down to earth and he says is there intelligent life down there but where people do it because they're searching right I'm frankly glad that they did it I am fascinated with it Ponce de Leon he crossed oceans because he had heard in Puerto Rico that there was an island called Bimini that had a fountain that would give you perpetual youth so he went in pursuit of a perpetual youth by the way when you read in the Bible you can find perpetual youth there they shall run and not be weary they will walk and not faint they will mount up with wings like the Eagles talk about eternal life Columbus he was looking for a way to the Indies and he got to America said I found it he didn't realize there was a continent still blocking the Indies sometimes we look in the wrong place for things I read one time about a policeman who came on a man one night he was down on his hands and knees underneath a streetlight and the policeman said can I help you with a man evidently was inebriated he said I lost my keys and so the policeman he looked around for the guy's keys for a while and he couldn't find me such are you sure you lost him here said no he said I actually lost them over there but the lights over here it was seeking but he wasn't seeking where you should really be looking so where do you look for God in the horoscope where do you look for God this is not far from any one of us when it says you'll search for me and you'll find me are you spending time searching for God do you seek for him this can give the Bible a casual glance how do you find God on your knees you find him when you look at the scenes across we find him through prayer that doesn't mean you spend your day going around on your knees it's talking about an attitude of your mind where you're looking for God in things that happen during the day do you look for God you say that was a god thing thank you Lord did that happen kind of like the children's story we just heard that car could have broke down anywhere but it broke down in the driveway I mean I've had that experience before where you just say that was a god I have it all the time I see things I see God in all kinds of things because he's real I'll be talking to a person and I'll forget their name and and I know it's embarrassing I should know them but I just can't remember their name and I'm talking to me I'll pray I'll say lord help them or somebody else say their name someone will walk by and say hey good seeing you Bob see ya Bob it's good to see ya I say thank you lord I mean just you see and you see the answers to prayer and that's evidence of God just all the time all around us God his real friends we need priorities in seeking I already read this to you but seek you first what the kingdom of God and His righteousness if your house was on the fire and you had to quickly run through your house a lot of people are facing that kind of decision even today and some of us in the area have faced that decision we've got families here that lost everything in the fire the fires up north what would you take out of your house well if you have children let's assume they'd be the first thing that you take people say photographs others would get their pets what would be your priority seek first the kingdom of God you know it's an interesting verse Psalm 34 10 the Young Lions lack and they suffer hunger but those who seek the Lord will never lack any good thing that's another good promise isn't it we talked about King as I as long as he sought the Lord he prospered here's another one those that seek the Lord will never lack any good thing you know a lion cubs kind of depend on their parents to feed them and the Young Lions parents might not bring anything home when they get hungry but you got a heavenly father that will never leave you King David said I was old I was young and now I'm old and I've not seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread you need to seek the priorities dr. Henry Drummond great theologian said above all things do not touch Christianity unless you're willing to seek the kingdom of God first I promise you a miserable existence if you seek it second steps to Christ the book says something like that - that your religion will be a drudgery unless it's a priority did you get that that's not steps of Christ I made that up but the idea is that your religion will be a drudgery if it is not a priority unless you really believe then you'll be satisfied years ago executives from the Standard Oil Company we're expanding their work in Indonesia and they were looking for the right man that could be liaison between the government officials that understood the culture that could help them expand their business and get the permits they needed to continue drilling and exploring in Indonesia it was a very promising field they were ready to invest and word came back they said you know the the brightest guy in the country is a missionary he grew up here he speaks the language he knows the custom the people respect him so they went to the missionary and they said we'd like to have you come work for the Standard Oil Company as our liaison with he's a thank you no thank you I said well you haven't heard with the packages he said we're gonna give you thirty thousand a year this is years ago when that was a lot of money talking about the turn of the century and he said well thank you very much but no thank you and they went back and came back to him again they said we've talked and since he turned him down so quickly the first thing they thought they must not be even near the right price so they bumped it up twenty thousand dollars which again is a phenomenal amount of money back then and it would've been like you know getting a half a million dollar a year salary today and they said we're gonna give you fifty thousand dollars and all these benefits he said thank you it's very kind but no thank you I came back from a third time and they raised it some astronomical number and more benefits he said I really appreciate he says but you're not understanding it's not that your pay isn't enough says the job isn't big enough says I'm working for God now how are you gonna top that he said you can't offer me enough he says I'm I'm doing what God wants me to do so his priority was what it was seeking first the kingdom of God what is your priority you're looking for Eldorado here in this world Jesus 626 he answered and he said to the most assuredly I say to you you seek me not because you saw the signs but because you ate of the loaves the Lord knew that some people were seeking him for the temporal benefits he said hey you know he tends to feed people get you get a fish sandwich at least you know if you follow Jesus around you get hungry there's a there's leftovers everyone got two all you want stick with him they use that expression rice Christians you ever heard that before they're wanting to we've discovered in evangelism that if you have a meeting and you offer food with the meeting attendance goes up it's a fact is that the right reason to seek Him seek him nearby the Bible says in acts 17 20 you don't have to go far to find him that if they should seek the Lord of happily they might feel laughter him and find him though he's not far from every one of us you don't have to go very far to find him I heard about Thomas Edison he he came to his team of scientists he had there in New Jersey at his discovery Factory and he he said look we've gotta find he had a piece of rubber in his hand says we've got to find something that will dissolve Roberts an amazing material but we've got a need to be able to dissolve it too and they said got it boss and they sat down and they got out their chemical formulas and they they started to decipher and they got some books open and they tried to understand the atoms and molecules and rubber and and they did all this research and he came to him and he said you got you got that solvent yet they said no we're working on it and he got frustrated he went out and he got a piece of rubber I think he cut up like an inner tube into a bunch of little strips and he went to his factory and he had jar after jar of chemicals in this whereas a big big warehouse full of chemicals and he went from one jar to the other he stuck the rubber in he pulled it out said no that's not the one stuck the rubber nipple and he did this for days I think and he stuck the rubber in and it does long he said oh what's that that'll work and he found it that way it was right there they were doing all these the extents of this research and it was right there I remember reading them a story from history about a man that lived in India in the 15th century his name was Ali Javed and he had a beautiful piece of property there in India had a family and a farm and and a Buddhist monk came to him once and he showed him a diamond he said yeah they are finding diamonds like this in Africa and he said the farmers that are finding diamonds on their land are becoming fabulously wealthy and Ali I thought I need to find diamonds and he told his family says I'm gonna go find diamonds and he left them he went to Africa he searched all over Africa modest success didn't find any diamonds his family ultimately had to sell the farm and the other relatives took over is his children and he just abandoned I mean made his way around Africa he's looking for diamond spent years looking for diamonds he went to Barcelona Spain went around Europe I'm making a long story short never did find his these dreams of diamonds that he wanted to find he finally threw himself off a cliff in the Barcelona Bay and died of flat broke a couple of years later they discovered diamonds on his land and it became these famous mines in India matter of fact all of the jewels not all are most of the diamonds that are in the British crown jewels and the Russian crown jewels came from the diamond mines that were on a leha feds property and it was right there he said I'm not very far if you want to seek me you don't have to go on a pilgrimage across the world he's nearby and where to seek his face in order to first seek the kingdom we must begin by seeking the king Psalm 27 verse 8 when you said seek my face my heart said to you Lord your face I will seek in first Chronicles and you know this one second Chronicles rather 7:14 if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and do what seek my face and turn from their ways you know you cannot turn from your wicked ways unless you're seeking God then I will hear from heaven I will forgive their sin I will heal their land Psalm 105 verse 3 glory in his name let the heart of them that rejoice seek the Lord seek the Lord and his strength seek his face forevermore God wants to be pursued Psalm 77 verse 2 in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord now we all kind of seek God when we're in trouble don't we Psalm 40 verse 16 let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you there's rejoicing there's gladness there's reward in seeking God don't wait too long before seeking out a priority because there is it is time-sensitive Isaiah 55 verse six seek the Lord while he may be found there's a time when it'll be too late call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way now talks about part of what's involved in seeking the Lord let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts it's in our thoughts we seek him let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon we must seek Him early you know the five foolish virgins went seeking for oil but it was too late wasn't it when they finally went proverbs 8:17 I love them that love me and those that seek me early will find me some people say I'm gonna live for the world I'm gonna live for the devil while I'm young and when I get old and I can't enjoy sin anymore then I'll seek after God you might find it's too late you've lost your capacity seek Him while it's early Psalm 63 verse one and two oh god you are my god early I will seek you my soul thirsts for you my flesh longs for you can you tell David spent a life looking for God so I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power in your glory Jesus said Luke 13:24 strive to enter through the narrow gate for I say to you that many will seek to enter and not be able in other words do it now because the day is gonna come or it'll be too late and he'll not be able and here's the last verse Zephaniah 2 verse 3 seek the Lord all you meek of the earth who have upheld his justice seek righteousness seek humility this is part of seeking God it may be catch this you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger who's going to be protected in the last days the ones who are seeking after God now that are seeking his seek first his kingdom and his what his righteousness seeking to do God's will you know I love history as you probably have gathered and I remember reading this story about david livingstone he was very successful explorer he went to africa to be a missionary but he ended up being more of an explorer than anything and while he was going across africa he discovered a lot of interesting routes and he made a few trips back to britain and they were just amazed at what he told them about Africa he told the stories of he said you know I've seen the smoke rising from a thousand villages not just Hut's a thousand villages that know nothing about Jesus and I created a great stir of evangelism and he kind of stunned England when he came and then he returned to Africa and the correspondent stopped and years went by and nobody heard from Livingstone and so a the paper owner of the New York Herald got it in his head that they wanted to find out whether Livingstone was even still alive so he hired someone who had been on some already's daring expeditions he was an English American born in England lived in America writer named Henry in Stanley and he said he would pay all the expenses for him to get a big expedition together and go into the interior of Africa that was largely unknown by Europeans see if he could find if Livingstone was still alive and they invested thousands and thousands of pounds to do this in 1869 Stanley took off looking for Africa he ended up taking a whole caravan of people with him their reporters carrying tons and tons of gear it's amazing how much they took with him and how heavy everything was back then he actually brought with him a hundred and eighty pounds of books that the porters had to carry this is a Henry Stanley he had a library that they were carrying on one of his expeditions he had over 200 Porter's that were carrying the baggage and they're making their way slowly into the interior of Africa and along the way it says little by little some of the porters became sick one of his expeditions 50% he started with 200 people ended up with they dine or abandon the expedition and he had to start throwing away books cuz no one would carry him at the end of his expedition he was down to one book you know what book he kept the Bible was the only thing he kept you know the story when he finally did find Livingstone there in a village in South Africa he's surrounded by all these Africans and here's this one white man and he goes up and ostensibly says these historic words where dr. Livingstone I presume I mean who else wasn't going to be and here's his report he he was not a believer his mission was to find Livingstone which he did he spent quite a bit of time with him but here's what Stanley writes on that I went to Africa another little amazing fact you like amazing facts Stanley was English he came to America during the Civil War he joined the South and fought for the south he was captured by the south and then he joined the north and he fought for the north and then he was then he enlisted in the American Navy as far as we know he's the only one who fought for the north he fought for the south and was in the US Navy and he was English this is the interesting guy he said I went to Africa as prejudiced as the biggest atheist in London but there came from me a long time of reflection for I saw this solitary old man there and I asked myself how on earth does he choose to stop here is he crazy or what he actually says is he cracked or what what is it that inspires him four months after we met I found myself wandering at the old man carrying out all that was said in the Bible leave all things and follow me but little by little his sympathy for others became contagious my simply sympathy was aroused seeing his piety his gentleness his zeal his earnestness how he went about his business I was converted by him although I had not he had not tried to do it when I saw that unwary patients that unflagging zeal those enlightened sons of Africa I became a Christian at his side though he never spoke one word and he didn't try and preach them he went seeking for a man and he ended up finding faith in the process as you seek for God you're gonna be finding your faith you're gonna be finding what your purpose is everything else it's important you know the Bible says if you want to know God's will commit your way to the Lord seek first his kingdom he guides you and everything else if you say Lord searching for you knowing you is gonna be my priority I remember I used to have a bumper sticker on my car it said why is men still seek him and if you want to have the blessings and the rewards and God promises I pray that you'll choose to seek Him too we're gonna sing a song that's number 458 more love to thee and you'll notice in particular in the second verse it talks about seeking after God let's stand as we sang 458 more love to thee [Music] [Music] we seek Him because He first saw us he want God to be a priority this new year seeking versus Kingdom Father in Heaven we know that you left heaven you sent your son who crossed the the cosmos to come to this world to seek this lost sheep this planet Lord and you also did it to seek each one of us individually we don't know how you do it you hear every persons prayer you love every person just as though they were the only person on earth and it's where all that precious to you you came in to seek and to save the Lost and lord I pray that we will reciprocate with a hunger for you that we will seek you with all of our hearts and experience the joy of finding you that reward that comes when we seek you lord please bless each person may that be our experience and study in prayer in spending our time thinking and reflecting on you that you will fill our hearts and our minds and be the most important thing in our lives we pray Lord that you will then bless all others find you as a result of our example and we ask all this in Jesus name Amen god bless you you may be

Channel: Aaron

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Id: sTd6LnzKyLQ

Length: 49min 18sec (2958 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 15 2017