Warmest greetings to you, friend! I’m Mack Lyon. The program’s “In Search of the Lord’s Way.” We’re sponsored by some churches of Christ in the viewing area of this station. We are so glad you have joined us today. Some church-goers leave the church assembly filled and running over with hope and zeal. Others leave with a feeling of emptiness. Why the difference? Phil Sanders has given a lot of thought to this, and he’s prepared a message you’ll want to hear today. We love you.
Hello, I’m Phil Sanders and this is In Search of the Lord’s Way, where we search the Word of God as Mack Lyon says to find the Lord’s way to be saved and to live the Christian life. Ah, we appreciate it so much that you have let us in your busy life; and we really want you to know that we’re happy when we hear that you are watching or listening to us. And we want to be part of your life each week.
I have always loved the inspired words of David in Psalm 42, verses 1 and 2, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” David knew how much he needed God and how lost and alone he felt without Him. Are there times in your life when you feel empty and alone? Perhaps the reason for this emptiness is that you’re not as close to God as you once were.
Some people live their Christian lives to the fullest, while others just kind of drift aimlessly. Some are passionate about their faith, while others are apathetic. Some come out of church full of hope and zeal, while others who were in the same worship service come out empty. Why the difference? Could it be that many have lost their passion for God? Today we’re exploring the Scripture and asking, “How can I renew my passion for God?”
Some folks have never been close to God; they don’t know what they’ve missed. My friend, I pray that you will look deep into your soul and ask if you have a close, loving relationship with God? Would you like one?
I always appreciate when people tell me they have been watching or listening to this program. Mack Lyon has been a great blessing in my life just as he is in yours. And since the beginning, this program has been offering the information program free. If you would like a printed copy, a CD or tape of our study, mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or e-mail us, searchtv@searchtv.org. Or, if you like, call our toll-free number. We will pay for the call; and that’s 1-800-321-8633. Now, we also stream this program on our website at www.searchtv.org.
Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us now in song; and then we’ll read from Philippians chapter 4, verses 4 through 7.
I just love beautiful, congregational singing, and I hope you do, too. We thank the Edmond Church for all that they do. Our reading today comes from Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, Philippians chapter 4: verses 4 to 7. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” That’s from the New King James Version. Let’s pray together. O Lord, we are grateful for the peace that passes understanding and for being able to draw close to You every day of our lives. Father, we love You and we need You. This is our prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Have you ever been thirsty; I mean really thirsty? The kind of thirst that demands a drink of water now? I’ve been out hunting and walking through the forest loaded down and desperately needing a drink of water. Or I’ve been mowing the lawn in the summer; and my face is red, and I’m so thirsty I could drink from the garden hose. The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5 and verse 6). Jesus used two familiar things, hunger and thirst, to teach us how God looks at righteousness. God blesses the person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, and God will give him satisfaction.
Israel, south of the Sea of Galilee, is a dry country. The people who live there know what it’s like to have little water available to them. The hills of Judea contain numerous cisterns to collect rain water for the times when the dry seasons come along. You see, they knew water brings life, and they had to have it.
Think with me: when was the last time you were thirsty for God? When were you last hungering to be close to God? When was the last time you hungered for a worship assembly in order to praise and thank God? When was the last time reading the Bible or hearing a sermon from God’s word was an immediate demand? You know it’s so easy to forget what you need for your spirit to be healthy and right with God.
Some people take for granted that God is always there, always cares, and is always available when they need Him. They have room in their lives for God when they have a hurt or they need Him, but they don’t seem to go out of their way to find God. Many of them ignore God until some real need arises. You see, their relationship with God is really part-time. Their lives say to God, “Well, I want you when you can benefit me, but don’t get used to being a part of my life.” They aren’t really close to God at all in that sense.
Part-time Christians don’t want to be close, unless they want something from God. My friend, that’s a shallow relationship. Would you like to be married to someone who only wanted you when he or she needed you but didn’t care if your needs were met? Christianity is a heartfelt, daily relationship with the Lord. We must not let our love for God grow stale.
And if you want to renew a relationship with God that’s vibrant and living and full of love and joy, you have got to grow beyond having God around only when you need Him. The Lord Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8 and verse 3 when he was tempted by the devil. You remember the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 4 and verse 4 that, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Many people cheat themselves out of a real life by focusing on everything around but God. They listen to the talk shows; they go to the movies; they know their soap operas; they read newspapers and magazines; they know every sports figure; but they haven’t read a single book of the Bible in years. No wonder their lives are filled with doubts and misunderstanding. By pushing the Bible away, they are pushing life away.
The Bible is no ordinary book, my friend. It is God’s book and God’s way of teaching and training us to live. It teaches us how to love, how to forgive and be forgiven, how to react to suffering, how to grow in our hearts, how to discipline ourselves, how to live without hurting other people, and how to make the most of our lives. The Bible gives us hope and promise; it gives us joy and peace; it lifts us up; and it comforts us; it corrects us; it trains us; and it makes us new. The Word of God is what gives us new life and causes us to be born again.
Look what the apostle Peter said in the Bible about the Bible. Now this is an amazing promise! First Peter chapter 1, verses 22 to 25 says: “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, and since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this is the word; it’s the good news that was preached to you.” God’s Word is the key to being “born again.” No other book can forgive your past, and no other book can give you the promise and hope of living forever! You see, the more you read the Bible, the more you’ll come to know and be close to God. The more you read the Bible, the more you will come to have the abundant life found in Christ Jesus!
So, start paying attention to God and to His Word. Our passion and feelings for God die when we remove ourselves from God. People don’t intend to get away from God; they simply drift away unconsciously. The Bible says in Hebrews 2, verses 1 to 3, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” You know a person can slowly just stop reading the Word of God, stop praying, and stop going to church. And before long he’s drifted away from the God who loves him.
Desperate circumstances sometimes happen to wake us up and lead us back to God; and we finally realize that we have no one else. Abraham Lincoln once said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” My friend, it is reassuring to remember that God can do things that men cannot do. My friend, there is really only one true God who can hear and answer prayer, and that’s the God of the Bible! I know that it’s not politically correct to say things like that; but political correctness is not the measure of truth. Political correctness is often the world’s way of telling people to forget God. When people listen to the world and forget God, what they end up doing is ruining their lives. We need God. We need His hope; we need His promises; we need His laws to live good and peaceful lives. My friend, there is simply no other way.
We can draw close to God by making Him a priority in our lives every day. Now, every day make time for God. Spend time in the Bible; study it and pray. Don’t simply read the word of God, study it and meditate upon it. Psalm 1, verses 1 to 3 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” God wants to feed your spirit with his word and give you the very insights that you need to prosper in every area of your life.
God also wants you to draw close to Him by opening your heart to Him in prayer. First Thessalonians 5 and verse 17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” Now God is not saying pray 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Why no one could do that. He is saying pray without quitting on prayer. Some folks stop praying altogether. That’s what God doesn’t want.
Some folks think they are bothering God by praying to Him, but God doesn’t feel that way. In fact, He invites us to pray, to ask, to seek, and to knock. He is ready to answer, to give, and to help us find what we are seeking. Prayer was God’s idea, so let’s rid ourselves of the notion that God is too busy for us or gets bothered by prayer. God loves you so much that He wants to hear your prayers; and He wants to hear your hearts open up to Him.
If you want to have a motive to be closer to God, let me suggest that you do this one, simple exercise every day. “What is it?” It’s this: count your blessings. Remember the good blessings that God has given to you. Remember God saved you from sin, delivered you from the domain of darkness, and transferred you into the kingdom of His beloved Son. Remember the cross, the love Jesus showed by suffering for you and me. Remember how God has answered your prayers. Remember how the Scriptures gave you hope and comfort in your time of need. Remember the strength God has given you to deal with the challenges of life. Oh, God has been blessing you through the years. Just look how God has helped you and is helping you now.
Counting your blessings is so healthy for your spirit and your attitude. The Bible teaches in Philippians 4, verse 8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
When we concentrate only on the negative, we lose sight of God. But when we concentrate on the positive, we grow more thankful to God. Every day we need to stop and say to God, “thank you, thank you, thank you for all that You do for us.”
Now there is one more thing about God’s blessings that we must remember. God has lovingly prepared a future for us, one that gives us hope. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1, verses 3 to 5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, you who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” As Christians we have the true and living hope in the true and living God. We have all the blessing of God in this life and we have heaven, too! In Christ we are of all people most blessed.
Is there anything in your life that keeps you from being close to God? Is there anything in your life that robs your energy and time, so that you are so overly tired that you don't have time for God? Some people day after day shut the Lord out of their lives. Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2 says: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and every sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
There may be many things in our lives that tangle us up. Some things are not sinful in and of themselves, but they so distract and rob us of time with God, that we lose sight of the Lord who loves us. And we also have to think about sin. Sin, all of it, every sin, separates us from God. The Bible says in Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.” If you want to draw close to God, you have to clean the sin out of your lives; and I hope that you will do that today. I hope you will get right with God. Let’s pray. O Lord, may our love for You grow greater and greater. And help us to draw close to You as we turn from sin and are obedient to Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
A middle school in Oregon faced a unique problem. A number of the girls began to use lipstick. And they would put it on in the restroom and then they would press their lips against the mirrors, leaving dozens of little lip prints. Well, this went on for several days; and finally the principal decided she had to do something to stop this problem. So, she called the girls to the restroom with the custodian.
And she explained that lip prints caused a major problem for the custodian, who had to clean the mirrors every day. Well, to demonstrate how difficult it was, she asked the custodian to clean one of the mirrors. Well, he took out a long-handled brush; he dipped it in the toilet; and then he scrubbed the mirror. Well, since that time there were no more lip prints on the mirrors. You know, if we could see the filth in sin, we wouldn’t be so attracted to it. God hates sin. He calls it iniquity, because it twists and ruins lives.
But God loves you and He wants something better than sin will give you. Jesus said in John 10, verse 10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Our Father in heaven wants us to live with joy and purpose.
We can live abundantly when we give our hearts and lives to the Lord. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus. Believe His Word. Turn away from the ugliness of sin. Sin may give you a pleasure for a moment, but it will rob you of your soul. And out of love and faith, with a penitent heart, confess Christ as your Lord and the Son of God and be baptized in water, immersed in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. Baptism is that time, according to Acts 2:38, when God forgives our sins. It’s also the time that we enter into a relationship with God; and I hope you’ll do that today.
We hope our study has blessed you. If you want a free printed copy, a CD, or tape of this message, “Thirsting for God,” mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or you can e-mail us; that’s searchtv@searchtv.org. Or, you can call the Search office toll-free, 1-800-321-8633. Now all our programs also appear on our website at searchtv.org. You can download a printed, audio, video format. And we also offer free study sheets that go along with our programs. Well, we want you to know from all of us at In Search of the Lord’s Way, God bless you. And we love you.
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