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8/2/2019 Enjoying God01

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Library information:Class: TCD/WHIAccession no: 0

Speaking time: 35.99 mins

Enjoying God

5th Sunday

Reading: Luke 9:57 10:9 & 10:17 10:21

Text: Luke 10:20-21

Place ............................................... Date

Victoria Baptist Church 30/11/2011

File: /var/www/apps/conversion/current/tmp/scratch1946/94759500.odtPage 1 of 8 Author revision 32 on 27 Apr 2012


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Lord, thank you for this time. In these next few minutes would you speak to us- give us what we need to hear as your dearly loved people here this morning.

Lord, we don't want to walk out of this place just having been to anotherservice. We would love to have heard from you in that inner place where youspeak to us -

because if we don't hear your voice and respond to you then we'vemissed out

but as we open our hearts and should to you, then you are filled with joyat the receptiveness of your children

and you end up with all the glory.

Come like this Lord Jesus! Amen

I want to teach today about enjoying God. This week Manchester city beat Manchester united by 6 goals to 1!

The Man C fans were ecstatic Joy was written all over their faces!

For many people 'enjoyment' and 'God' don't fit together in the samesentence. For many people 'Enjoying God' is an oxymoron

the thought of joy fills them with delight and the thought of God fillsthem with gloom, dread, foreboding or just plain apathy.

BUT when I look through the Bible and Christian history I find example afterexample of men and women who had realjoy in God.

Men and women who were thrilled in his presence, who were in awe ofhis majesty and in love with his person.

And these weren't the head-in-the-clouds mystics, they were sane,practical down-to-earth types who wrestled with the hassles andtraumas of life just like we do today.

And yet there is no question that their default position so far as God wasconcerned was one of joy and delight. Their reflex action was to enjoy him in

spite of any troubles they were experiencing.

Now I don't want you to run away with the impression that pursuing joy in Godis limited only to times when we're in dire need. No way! Enjoying God is hisdesire for each of us whatever our external circumstances.

I want to point you to part of the text we had read this morning.

Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit,said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have

hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to



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little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

Many times you've heard me quote the Shorter Westminster Catechism a listof questions and answers (dating back to 1647) which were designed to helpordinary people like us crystallise what we believe.

It's an FAQ set Frequently asked questions about God, about Jesus

about the Holy Spirit about the church and about the Bible.

First question is probably the most fundamental: What is the chief end(or purpose) of man?

Why do we exist, what's the point of all this earthly life?

We could come up with a whole variety of answers

and economist would say the chief end of man is to be productive tohelp stimulate the economy

a psychologist might say man's main purpose is to find self realisation orautonomy

The Westminster Catchism was derived by Christian leaders in the 17th centuryto help us in our faith and we still use it today.

According to the very first question in the Catechism:

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.

This has two parts to it glorifying God and enjoying him.

Before we come on to enjoying God let's get a grasp on what we mean by

'glorifying' him.

Something is glorified when we draw attention to it in such a way that itbecomes an object ofwonder.

So to glorify God means to draw attention to him in such a way that wewonder or marvel at him!

It means to enhance his reputation - or his 'glory' to increase thewonder of who he is it means for him to be seen by us and the worldas clearly as possible.

Just suppose (!) the Manchester City fans on their way to and from the stadiumhad to funnel down one of the streets in the city and you heard one of theresidents of the street talking about it.

Suppose you heard them say The fans were fantastic they were inhigh spirits, but they were polite, they weren't rude, they were sober they were amazing If I wanted to support a football team - I'd supportthem!

They are glorifying the club it's been seen and noticed

I'm going to blow our own trumpet for a moment.



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I heard a lady say I used to find church a drudgery but since I've beencoming here I've woken up on a Sunday and really wanted to come

She was glorifying the church it's been noticed / seen for what it is

I hear a husband talk about his wife and say she's the best thing that everhappened to me! -

he's glorifying his wife enhancing her image and reputation. She's seenfor who she is.

It's all very well for a football team, a church or a wife, but how about our God?

How can we glorify God? How can he be seen / noticed in the church and inthe world?

And in the answer to that question we get one of the most profound andbiblical ways of glorifying God of heightening his reputation of enhancinghis image on his earth

it is by us enjoying him!

Not learning about him (although that's important)

Not serving him (although that's vital)

Not giving to him (that's necessary)

but by enjoying him. Finding our delight in him.

King David (Psalm 37) said

Ps 37:4 Delight yourselfin the LORD and he will give you the desiresof your heart.

You won't find yourself seeking your desires from another source!

So the act of delighting in him changes the landscape of my heart as mydesires co-ordinate with his and that's where we derive our joy, oursatisfaction

Only a few days ago I was talking to someone whose grandson had become aChristian and instantly Other members of the family noticed that that waswhat God does He's being glorified.

Here's our headline message for today

God is glorified most clearly when we enjoy himmost intimately

And we find enjoyment of God peppered throughout the scriptures.

Today's reading

turn around and pair off - find a partner (3 if you must)



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In our reading Jesus sent people out in pairs and I want you to imagine thatJesus has just said this to you

Luke 10:3-11

3 [I'm commissioning the two of you to] Go! I am sending you out likelambs among wolves.

4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not waste time withformalities ...

8 "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.

9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom ofGod is near you.'

How would you react to a personal commission like that? I think you wouldtake it very seriously indeed.

It's quite likely Jesus would have laid his hands on you and sent you offand said 'we'll meet back her this time next week'. Here's whathappened

Luke 10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord,even the demons submit to us in your name."

They were amazed at the way God was seen in their lives and the power of hisname to change people. - And they were thrilled with it!

Luke 10:21 At that [moment] Jesus, full of joy through theHoly Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, andrevealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your goodpleasure.

It was when Jesus was enjoying God (full of joy through the Holy Spirit) thathe came out with such a profound thing 'you only get God when you receivehim like a little child

and a young child's natural desire is for intimacy with a loving parent.

(indeed, if we are starved of intimacy it can affect us life-long)

and that's like us. We receive from God most intimately when we receivehim as a little child.

Let me lead you through some other places in the Bible where intimacy andjoy in God are revealed

John's gospel

John the Baptist pictures himself as like the best man at a wedding waiting forthe bridegroom! When the shout goes up that he's finally arriving the bestman is thrilled!

He' pictures Jesus as the bridegroom and his followers (us) as the bride



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John 3:29-30 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend whoattends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joywhen he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine (says John theBaptist), and it is now complete. He (bridegroom = Jesus) must becomegreater; I must become less.

To be in the presence of Christ, to enjoy intimacy with him (like a bride andbridegroom) provokes ecstatic joy in John the best man who sees it all!

The joy Christ gives to his children is like that of a bride and groom ontheir wedding day an intimate consummation of a precious relationship

God is glorified most clearly when we enjoy him most intimately

Later on in John's gospel Jesus talking to his disciples he's just revealed thathe will go to his death and we might expect that to be a moment full ofheaviness and foreboding and there's no question their hearts were troubled- but listen

John 15:10-11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you andthat your joy may be complete.

He goes on

John 16:24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Askand you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

The joy Christ promises here is not being restricted to a few specially favouredpeople, it's for all his children.

and it's a complete joy not qualified by conditions and small print, it's

just the simple joy of intimacy with God.

Later on, Jesus was talking with his heavenly father just before his arrest anddeath. Even here he's talking about joy

John 17:12-13 Father, I am coming toyou now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that theymay have the full measure of my joy within them.

Christ's intention for you is to have the full measure of my joy withinyou!

And I could take you to passages in the other gospels, in Romans ((14:7,15:13) in Galatians (5:22), in Philippians (1:25, 1:4), in Thessalonians(1Th 1:6) in 1 Peter where he says

1 Pet 1:8 Though you have not seen [God], you love him; and eventhough you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with aninexpressible and glorious joy,

And if ever we have any doubts as to why Jesus went through the cross for us doubts as to what kept his going, just listen to Hebrews

Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and



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perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross,scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It wasjoy in God that saw him through the greatest trial of his life.

We're not talking about superficial happiness or jollity.

Joy in God is the gift of God to be received like a little child.Jonathan Edwards was a brilliant preacher and theologian of the 18th Century.

Man's proper happiness consists in the enjoyment of God; but it is notpossible that man should enjoy God with only those things in him whichhe receives from his first birth. So that there is this necessity of man'sbeing born again. (Born Again from the Works of Jonathan Edwards)

>>>

So to enjoy God as I'm describing today you need to be born again you need

to have come to Christ.I vividly remember a lady who came to one of our services once and it wasobvious God was on her case. As I remember it, she was a Christian but herlove for the Lord had dwindled to almost nothing.

As she came in she sat unobtrusively in her seat and, rather to herembarrassment, she began quietly sobbing.

She told me afterwards I just wept the whole way through the service,but they were tears of joy and release. As last I had let go of myself andlet God in and now I genuinely love him in a new way.

She was enjoying the intimate presence of God in her life that morningin a way she hadn't before.

And if that vocabulary sound a bit strange to you, let me read to you part ofNehemiah.

Nehemiah was a great Israelite leader who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalemafter they had been destroyed.

His great concern was not so much for the architecture as for the gloryof God. God's reputation as lay at stake when the walls of His city lay in

ruins.Nehemiah knew that he had to do more than just a load of brickwork and atone point he took the book of law and had it read to the people, with thepriests doing just what I'm doing now trying to make its meaning clear.

And what happened? The people began weeping as its message reachedtheir hearts! And what did Nehemiah say to them?This is a day ofrejoicing! The joy of the Lord is to be your strength!



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Change ministry time

If you have a 'problem', please contact me later / e-mail (address on NewsSheet) / write it on a welcome card we will pray with you about your problem promise!

Just for today I'm not interested in 'problems'

If you want to enjoy God, to have a deeper awareness of him, to be touched byHis spirit, then come to the front.

If in your heart there's a desire for increased intimacy with god so He isglorifiedin your life, come to the front while we are singing and we will praytogether.

Pray

Lord I want to enjoy you more intimately and glorify more obviously


enjoying god01

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